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by enjalot 4637 days ago
Here's an interesting essay that expands on this exact point: https://medium.com/armchair-economics/ec6139b54795

it's written by a collaborator of this project and a transportation PhD student at Cal.

1 comments

If we could lose jobs and still run BART safely and efficiently, I am all for fewer jobs (or even no jobs) at BART.

> Suppose there were some technology that rendered BART’s whole workforce unnecessary. Robots maybe. Or some super-efficient private contractor. The public would face a choice: we could lay off all the workers and use the savings to send trains more places, more frequently, and at a higher level of comfort and safety. Or we could carry on.

Sorry but BART does not exist to provide jobs. BART exists to run a public transit. If we don't need those people working in BART, I am sure their hard work will be useful somewhere else.