Been there tried that

Reader comment on: Privatize the Subways — and the Tunnels, Too

Submitted by Lyle (United States), Oct 29, 2012 14:24

Recall that the NYC subways were built privately that is way Manhattan has lines with different names (BRC IRT,IND) By 1913 the city started building the lines and leasing them to private operators. Then in 1940 the city bought the lines out in toto as they went bankrupt, as did all privately owned transit systems in the us in the next 10 years. As to the tunnels the state can close private facilities for public safety purposes just as easy as state owned ones, recall the concept of the evacuation which affects private enterprises right now (if your a business in the evac zone you close if nothing else no one will show up for work).

The meme about re-privatizing sounds fine but having had to buy out the private operators in the past one must demonstrate that the financial situation is now different than in 1940, which for public transit is likely worse than in 1940. Just like if you privatized the Metro North and other commuter lines they would likely quickly shut down as to make money the fares would get so high that again the operation would go broke.


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Other reader comments on this item

Title By Date
Privatize the subways [298 words]Emil MottolaJun 26, 2017 00:29
MTA [9 words]JOS. VIGODAJul 13, 2014 19:51
⇒ Been there tried that [192 words]LyleOct 29, 2012 14:24
If I recall correctly... [19 words]David POct 29, 2012 19:56
You do recall correctly [108 words]Anders MOct 31, 2012 16:08

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