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Public Ownership of Roads is okay but Public Ownership of Railroads is not?
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Passenger rail is publicly operated worldwide. A train ticket is priced at what riders are willing to pay but this is below the cost of providing the service. Privatized passenger trains lose money because of this. But passenger trains don’t just provide value to riders, cars take up too much space, cars consume over a third of Los Angeles and makes high density city centers impossible. Even in the suburbs the cost of land is so high running a commuter train would be cheaper than buying the land to build a freeway. Commuter rail all over the world is publicly subsidized and the public gets a better return on that subsidy than they would buy building freeways. <br /> <br />Manhattan, the Chicago Loop, San Francisco’s financial district places that generate far more wealth per square mile than anywhere in the country could not exist without subsidized commuter rail. <br /> <br />Passenger rail has value to both riders and the general public and the public pays to consume the benefits. <br /> <br />It seems that when the primary purpose of a railroad is passenger service it is publicly owned but when its primary purpose is freight service its privately owned because freight service can cover operating expenses from fares alone.
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