perhaps just an operating contract

Reader comment on: Subway Salaries
in response to reader comment: but they started out private and went broke

Submitted by lyle (United States), Nov 20, 2017 15:31

That is you privatize just the operation of the subways (and add the metro service in the bargin) but not the capital investments. The operator would be responsible just for O&M. But given the cost of living in New York would it really cut the costs? (After all the investors expect a profit). It should be noted that the real money losing part of the railroads from the 1930s on was taken public between the various state rail transit agencies in NY, NJ, PA and IL, and Amtrak. Of course in addition the railroads suffered from a severe overcapacity problem in the US as a result of overbuilding in the first part of the 20th century, compounded by the arrival of the car and the farm truck. It used to be that about 10 miles one way was as far as a farmer could drive the horse and cart in a day, so depots were 20 miles apart in the Midwest, but the truck changed all that.

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