June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Let's hear it for an honest man.

David S. Mack, a vice chairman of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is the agency charged with moving New Yorkers around, on June 18 told reporters that he might not ride the Long Island Rail Road anymore if his free passes are taken away. The state is trying to cut down on the use of free perks like this.

What Mack said after that observation, however, is what touched off a bonfire of indignation.

``Why should I ride and inconvenience myself when I can ride in a car?'' asked Mack.

Now, let's put aside everything else about this political tempest and focus purely on the words of that one sentence, because Mack said a lot more. Who can disagree with him? Who likes to use public transportation when there is the private transportation alternative?

And that's exactly the problem with public transportation. Everybody hates it, even those who use it, or to put it more bluntly, even those who have to use it, day after grinding day. I exclude those who use it now as a sort of novelty.

Gasoline at $4-plus per gallon means a lot more people are turning to public transportation from coast to coast, or would like to.

There are lots of reasons why public transportation is so eminently odious.

Not Your Schedule

For one thing, it runs on a schedule, not your schedule. If you miss one train or bus, there might not be another for 15 minutes or a half hour, or an hour. Or longer.

For another, you have to go where public transportation is. It doesn't come to you.

Finally, you have to contend with the rest of the public. There may be people like you. There are also the unsightly, the insane, the ill-mannered and the feral, to name just a sampling of your fellow passengers.

It is no wonder, then, that some people will do anything to avoid public transportation, even in places where it is readily available, like New York. If they can afford to drive to work, they will. The only thing that will dissuade them from getting behind the wheel and plunging into the maelstrom is cost.

The breaking point is being reached across the nation, and so public-transportation use is on the rise. This is its moment.

The thing about public transportation is: It's too important to be left to the public.

Active Opposition

Generations of Americans are so wedded to the independence and comfort their automobiles afford that it's hard to rely on them for bond issues to build things like streetcar lines and an expanded bus service.

There is also an active, arrogant, intellectual opposition to public transportation to contend with. I haven't heard much from it recently, not with oil heading for $150 a barrel, but rest assured it's out there. Its hatred of public transportation is almost visceral.

Have someone raise the idea of financing light rail, for example, and the media will be filled with opponents who see such things as nothing but a colossal waste of money.

And of course they're right. Public transportation isn't going to be self-supporting. It's not going to pay for itself through fare-box collections and advertising.

That doesn't mean it doesn't make sense.

Fickle Public

That's why public transportation is too important to be left to the public. It takes a long time, and millions of dollars, to establish, and relies upon subsidies to run. It's a long-term commitment, and it has to be financed regardless of the fickle nature of the public, and fuel prices.

It also takes a lot of effort to administer. It's not enough to build a system of public transport. You have to tinker with the schedules, keep the trains and buses and stations clean, and remove the indigent and lawbreakers. You have to repair the equipment, buy new stuff and expand service.

The public seems to be receptive to this idea right now, but we need something bigger. We need regional, county, perhaps even state dedication to the notion that public transportation is now something that has to be provided and paid for in more than a patchwork fashion.

People are always going to prefer to use the private alternative, if they can afford it. $9 a gallon gasoline, anyone?

(Joe Mysak is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Joe Mysak in New York at jmysakjr@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 24, 2008 00:01 EDT