12-22-2023, 11:13 AM
(12-20-2023, 09:47 PM)KevinL Wrote:(12-20-2023, 08:58 PM)nms Wrote: Thinking back 100+ years (eg pre-CN and TTC), were any transit or transportation systems started as public projects? The railways were all private companies, and city transportation was largely contracted out to private operators who took the risks to build their systems. Yes, things then largely contracted from 1920 to 1945 with the companies and assets becoming public property. Unless there is some spectacular moonshot I think we're stuck with incremental improvements for most of our lifetimes. It won't win any races, but any step forward is a good step to take.
Back before the rise of the private car, most people relied on these mass transit systems and as such they could operate at a profit. It's only once cars became affordable to the masses, and governments chose to subsidize the roads they would run on, that the bottom fell out of that market.
There were a lot of rail systems that failed as well! Or that needed governments to make land available.