Categories
free trade & free markets too much government

Death by Metro

“Metro has a reputation for shoddy service and a history of not learning from its mistakes,” Aaron Wiener admitted in a column for The Washington Post. But this extremist zealot’s basic argument for government-​run, taxpayer-​subsidized mass transit might best be understood by its headline: “Metro’s a mess. All the more reason to ride it.”

A woman died last week riding the city’s subway system. She was overcome when train cars became stuck in a tunnel filling with smoke. Another 84 riders were hospitalized, two in critical condition.

DC Fire was so woefully slow in response — victims say more than 30 minutes — that afterwards no public official was willing to say precisely how slow. Not the new mayor; not the Chairman of Washington’s Metro board. The latter provided an excuse, claiming he “cannot speak to it” because of the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Administration.

Upon arrival, the rescuers’ radios didn’t work. “[D]espite hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades and new training and safety protocols at the transit agency,” The Washington Post reported, “a critical piece of infrastructure — emergency communications — remains a significant problem.”

This isn’t Metro’s first accident, either. Six years ago, nine people died when two Metro trains collided.

Without profits, and run “politically” as a public entity, there just isn’t the same incentive to make the necessary investment in infrastructure required to run the subways safely. A private company with Metro’s record of accidents and failure in addressing safety concerns would likely be shut down.

Sadly, Metro faces no such threat.

But the transit agency faces a different one: ridership has fallen to the lowest point in a decade. People are voting with their feet.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
insider corruption

Bad-​Time Bonuses

People often complain about executive pay. I don’t. What other people get paid isn’t my business.

But after we discovered that many of the major companies bailed out by our government went on to give their execs bonuses, I changed my tune, a bit. How did failed companies and failed businessmen deserve bailouts in the first place? After being bailed out of their mess, the failed execs earned bonuses how? For bringing home the bacon from politicians?

This problem is not limited to private enterprise at the public nipple.

Take DC Metro. This governmental organization, tasked with providing public transit in the District of Columbia and adjacent areas, is in deep financial woes, even worse than many businesses. The transit authority threatens deep cuts in service.

And yet, somehow, they just managed to hike the salaries of management, not to mention the wages of hourly workers.

This is the reaction of a concern when its rising costs are not being matched by income gains?

It seems insane. And yet, this is government, so we at least have a ready explanation. And, being a metropolitan service district rather than a city or county government, it doesn’t have many of the usual checks in place. From the people.

If you are looking for a cause to get involved in, I bet your area’s metro district would get your blood boiling. Why not look into it?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.