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$1,228,000,000.00 and a Streetcar named Desire

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[quote user="schlimm"] I think you are both missing the point.  Decisions (including economic ones - look at the field of behavioral economics for more) are often irrational. Perhaps the reason transit and passenger rail doesn't sell is because it isn't perceived by the public as sexy or glamorous?  Look at what sells most products: not cold rational facts and logic, but rather sex, violence and lots of bling.  Obviously, the rational choice for people in that neighborhood in Dallas would be to take the trolley.  Short distance, quick, convenient.  But it's not as cool as driving your auto, which if it is a well-off neighborhood, might be some prestige brand. [/quote] Behavior is a function of its consequences.  The economic driver is only one of them.  There are many others, as you have pointed out.  And most of them have a high emotional quotient. In Texas, where I have lived for more than 35 years, most people believe the consequences associated with driving and flying beat the consequences of ground based public transport.  This is the reason why there is a very limited market for it in the Lone Star state, as well as most other areas of the United States. Dallas Area Rapid Transit, as well as other transit agencies in the state, has run numerous ad campaigns touting the benefits of public transit.  They have appealed to a variety of economic and psychological (emotional) variables, even suggesting that riding the train is cool.  It has not had many takers.  Less than three to five per cent of the people in the state's major metropolitan areas use public transport not withstanding the investment of billions of dollars in improved transit systems, with Dallas leading the way. Most people in my part of the country will continue to drive for work, shopping, entertainment, etc.  And they will continue to do so until the cost of driving is prohibitive.  In 2008 there was a dramatic increase in the number of people taking the bus and train to work.  It was, as one will remember, when gasoline hit roughly $4 per gallon.  When the bubble broke and gasoline slipped below $2 a gallon, most of the newbie's went back to driving.  This evidence suggests that the most important variable in the decision to drive or take public transit is economic, although other variables enter into the picture. For reasons that go beyond the scope of this post, public transit in the U.S., as well as most other countries, is a public utility.  We fund it irrespective of whether it can be supported through the fare box.  It can't.  So the most important question is how much public money should be spent on transit?
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