[rayiner]

> Let me guess, you also think public servants are lazy, overpaid and unskilled? Comments like this belie how many people form opinions of public agencies without having any real experience with government.

I think American public servants are lazy, overpaid, and unskilled, yes. You don’t need experience running the government to know that the government sucks at its job, just like Windows users could tell Windows 95 sucked without being programmers themselves.

US transit systems almost uniformly suck compared to those in other developed countries, while costing the public just as much money, and in many cases a lot more money: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephensmith/2011/12/11/surpris.... (“ The Swiss Transit department made a presentation a year or two ago in San Francisco. As far as I could tell, the public transit subsidies for all of Switzerland are in the neighborhood of the subsidies for transit in the Bay Area… He gives total [Swiss] transit subsidies at $1.5 billion.The 2009 MTC report gives Bay Area transit subsidies at $1.3 billion.”).

[dctoedt]

> I think American public servants are lazy, overpaid, and unskilled, yes.

Sweeping generalizations much?

[rayiner]

Your experience as a customer of a transit service is based on the aggregated output of public employees in general, not individuals. I’m sure there are hard working, efficient people at WMATA. But those individuals can’t single handedly keep the system from falling apart when their coworkers are trying to do as little as possible.

[arrosenberg]

Once again, I will reiterate that right wing characterizations of public employees are very silly, not reflective of how most municipal agencies operate, and is intended to erode public institutions. Public employees are not inherently more lazy or less skilled than private sector employees. Their incentives and challenges are different. If the performance is subpar, look in the mirror to find the problem.

Its completely besides my point, but comparing sprawling American metros to compact Swiss cantons is not a useful exercise. If we want to redevelop American cities to be more transit friendly, I am on board!

[rayiner]

I’m very left wing on transit. I rode the Amtrak from Baltimore to DC every day for two years, I commuted from the suburbs to various DC metro stations for years to commute into the city. The right wing characterization of transit proved true based on experience despite my strong desire for it not to be true. Don’t get mad at right wingers for simply pointing out what’s plain to see. There’s a reason Americans are overwhelmingly leaving the places that have good transit for places that have no transit—the American version that’s always slow, late, dirty, and doesn’t go where you’re going is just not an amenity that’s worth it for most people.

The problem is not funding or public policy or geography. The northeast corridor is densely populated; there is no reason in terms of geography why you shouldn’t be able to have efficient transit in Baltimore and DC. These systems are well funded and heavily subsidized by the federal government. The problem is the people, and that’s a problem you can’t fix. You cannot redevelop American cities into anything other than what they are so long as you have Americans running them. It’s a futile exercise.