Congress Wastes Some More Cash

As if the steroid hearings weren't enough of an indication that Congress can do a terrific job hemorraghing cash, the Lord of Truth points us to the brilliant P.J. O'Rourke, who tears apart mass transit (and its funding in the latest transportation bill) in his latest missive. A tiny excerpt...

There are just two problems with mass transit. Nobody uses it, and it costs like hell. Only 4% of Americans take public transportation to work. Even in cities they don't do it. Less than 25% of commuters in the New York metropolitan area use public transportation. Elsewhere it's far less--9.5% in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, 1.8% in Dallas-Fort Worth. As for total travel in urban parts of America--all the comings and goings for work, school, shopping, etc.--1.7 % of those trips are made on mass transit.

Then there is the cost, which is--obviously--$52 billion. Less obviously, there's all the money spent locally keeping local mass transit systems operating. The Heritage Foundation says, "There isn't a single light rail transit system in America in which fares paid by the passengers cover the cost of their own rides." Heritage cites the Minneapolis "Hiawatha" light rail line, soon to be completed with $107 million from the transportation bill. Heritage estimates that the total expense for each ride on the Hiawatha will be $19. Commuting to work will cost $8,550 a year. If the commuter is earning minimum wage, this leaves about $1,000 a year for food, shelter and clothing. Or, if the city picks up the tab, it could have leased a BMW X-5 SUV for the commuter at about the same price.

We don't want minimum-wage workers driving BMW X-5s. That's unfair. They're already poor, and now they're enemies of the environment? So we must find a way to save mass transit--get people to ride it, be eager to pay for it, no matter what the cold-blooded free-market types at Heritage say. We must do it for the sake of future generations, for our children.

What's great about O'Rourke is that he enjoys exploding these myths. Some of his books, notably this one, had me laughing the whole time. It's funny -- most folks in DC take great pride in the Metro, yet many of us barely use it. Maybe it's time more people consider the numbers on what our mass transit systems cost, and whether they're worth it.

Nah. Let's discuss baseball players and steroids.