[onlyrealcuzzo]

> no it would save miami and the state and the federal government billions

Have you ever looked at the local budget of a US transit authority?

They typically lose $2+ per passenger trip, and get bailed out by the federal government.

Mass transit is not going to save Miami any money for decades until ridership approaches Hong Kong levels.

Unless you count passing on expenses to the Federal government as savings, and even then, it's still decades out.

[kemotep]

With car usage on most roads free of charge at use and maintenance also footed largely by the Federal Government, it probably comes out cheaper long term to invest in rail.

And every car off the toad makes driving more pleasant for everyone who stays.

[bedobi]

lol the idea isn't to make money off transit, it's to save money on roads

roads cost more than transit - a LOT more, and motorists aren't paying anywhere near the cost of road construction and maintenance, they're (quite literally) free-riding subsidized trips on the taxpayer

traffic also destroys productivity, public health, life expectancy etc etc so costs money in many more ways than motorists not paying for them

[onlyrealcuzzo]

> and motorists aren't paying anywhere near the cost of road construction and maintenance, they're (quite literally) free-riding subsidized trips on the taxpayer

So are public transit riders. And to a worse degree. What's your point?

We should magically spawn mass transit systems overnight and force everyone to ride them?

By the way, I'm a fan of mass transit, and live somewhere in the US - specifically - where that's a viable option.

It just isn't a viable option in ~80% of the US, and even if those areas start doing everything right to be mass transit viable (no indication of that), it still takes decades.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

[bedobi]

> So are public transit riders. And to a worse degree. What's your point?

that this is wildly incorrect. roads cost more than transit. a lot more. and road users are wildly more subsidized than transit users.

> We should magically spawn mass transit systems overnight

yes

> and force everyone to ride them?

you won't have to when the choice is between sitting hours in traffic vs a fraction of the time on efficient transit and greenways. people are not stupid.

> It just isn't a viable option in ~80% of the US

this is Miami, not middle of nowhere Iowa

> Rome wasn't built in a day

so it's correct of Miami to continue to "invest" in even more roads to nowhere, like yet another new highway bridge across the bay? that will take decades to complete and cost billions, and cause MORE traffic?

like no lol just build the effing transit and greenways and traffic will go down and the government and people alike will save billions instead (and their time, and lives)