Quote Originally Posted by Hermod View Post
The most successful transit systems in the world come close to meeting their operations costs out of the fare box. None can cope with capital costs. The least successful transit systems can only get 25% of their operating costs out of the fare box.
Ah, that fare box again. You just can't resist promoting the "fare box fallacy" again?

Hermod, the most successful transit systems in the world are the ones that move the most people and create the most density, not the ones that approach profitability. Trying to just a transit system on its profitability is the wrong yardstick. It makes about as much sense as trying to figure out how profitable a water pipe under your street is, or how much profit is produced by a chair in a classroom.

And, as GP usually asks, how profitable are Michigan's roads? The gas taxes can't cover their maintenance right now, let alone the billions of dollars that will come due over the next 10-20 years. But, OK, you keep thinking about that "fare box."