On Fri, 2003-02-07 at 22:33, Paul Johnson wrote: > On Fri, Feb 07, 2003 at 05:41:45PM -0600, Gary Turner wrote: > > Now, just exactly why should someone risk their capital to provide you a > > service without expecting a positive return? It looks like what you > > really want is for someone else to pay for what you [want to] use. If > > you're not willing to pay full fare, maybe you don't really want it as > > much as you say. > > I don't mind them trying to turn a profit, but if any private > organisation can do it better, faster and cheaper than any government > organisation, why doesn't every American city have fast, reliable, > extensive bus service rivalling that of Portland for around the same > price as Portland? If you can replace TriMet and turn a profit, by > all means, give it a shot. It'll be nice having double the coverage > for the short time that'll last.
How much are the city/state/feds subsidizing TriMet? How much of the operations of TriMet have been contracted out to private enterprise to lower the goverment's expenses? I bet that if a city/regional transit system is even close to breaking even, then an honest private enterprise could turn a profit. (By honest, I mean that the city managers weren't bribed, or given large campaign donations, and the company isn't using Enronesque accounting practices.) -- +------------------------------------------------------------+ | Ron Johnson, Jr. Home: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Jefferson, LA USA http://members.cox.net/ ron.l.johnson | | | | "For me and windows it became a matter of easy to start | | with, and becoming increasingly difficult to be produc- | | tive as time went on, and if something went wrong very | | difficult to fix, compared to linux's large over head | | setting up and learning the system with ease of use and | | the increase in productivity becoming larger the longer I | | use the system." | | Rohan Nicholls , The Netherlands | +------------------------------------------------------------+ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]