Transit is very expensive and the cost / benefit needs to be decided by the public. Governments also need a plan to pay for it. But I would not say it is idiotic just because it is expensive.
Transit is very expensive and the cost / benefit needs to be decided by the public. Governments also need a plan to pay for it. But I would not say it is idiotic just because it is expensive.
I can ride the bus as many times as I like, and that creates costs for the system. There's no direct relationship between user whim and system costs for the other two services.
Roads are in fact overused and traffic is a nightmare in many cities because they are free. You could easily create a pay-per-use model for roads that charges based on usage. Instead roads are just seen as a public good used by everyone.
There's no reason why society could not treat public transportation the same way. I'm not necessarily saying it should be free. Countries with the best public transportation tend to charge something, but the goal isn't to cover the cost because transportation is seen as a public good.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-13/debunking...