Transit Is Great — But It’s Not a Public Good
When boosters of mass transportation invoke this economic term, they risk muddling the argument for why transit is worth subsidizing.
In December, the Washington DC city council voted to make Metrobus rides free for all in the summer of 2023.
Photographer: Olivier DoulieryAFP via Getty Images
In December, the District of Columbia’s city council made headlines when it approved $128 million per year to make bus trips free to all riders, regardless of income. DC Councilmember Charles Allen, who was the lead force behind the proposal, explained his rationale at a press conference: “Public transit is a public good,” he said. “I’m not going to means test your sidewalk or your roadway; if we believe transit is a public good, then it is a public good.” (While the bill passed, its future is now in doubt due to budgetary concerns.)
The declaration “public transit is a public good” has been in the news a lot lately — unsurprisingly, considering transit’s role transporting essential workers during the pandemic. Those six words were tweeted by US Representative Ayanna Pressley to announce a congressional resolution supporting transit funding in December 2020, posted on Facebook by Boston’s free-transit-loving Mayor Michelle Wu, and deployed as a headline in Mother Jones. “Mass transit is a public good,” reads a blog post from the World Resources Institute. “Everyone — not just riders — should pay for it.”