Get On The Bus, Gus

- Henry Hazlitt

As is often the case, we tend to get excited when new government projects are awarded in our cities, especially, when the economy is not moving along so well, and unemployment is a little higher than we'd like. Government projects mean new jobs! As an example, light rail projects have become increasingly popular in recent years. The politicians and bureaucrats tell us we need a new light rail system. They tell us that the population has increased, which of course increases traffic, the environment is going to hell in a handbasket, and they ask us, "Aren't you tired of sitting in traffic every morning?" They justify massive expenditures to build light rail by telling us that it "creates" jobs and it is good for the environment. They don't bother to tell us that we are the ones who pay for those jobs, through increased taxes, and that studies have shown that light rail has a negligible (if any) effect on air pollution.

Daddy Warbucks We Ain't

Light rail is expensive - very expensive. Even some of the "simplest" light rail projects cost $20 million per mile to build, and some cost as much as $300 million per mile. In addition to construction expense, once they're built, nearly all of them need to be subsidized by taxpayers. They simply don't have enough riders to pay for themselves. Not only do taxpayers fund the construction, they continue to fund it to keep it running, whether they ride it or not. In Baltimore, taxpayers fund 75% of the light rail system to keep it up and running. In Los Angeles 85% is funded by taxpayers, and in St. Louis 72%.

The Max Factor

For many cities in which a light rail system has been built, there has been a decline in ridership after one year. In no city, in which light rail has been built, has ridership increased according to the US Census Bureau. In Denver alone, two million people commute each day. It has been predicted by the local transportation board, that only 1,600 people will ride the new light rail system the board is hoping to implement. 1,600 people out of two million certainly won't tackle the pollution problem, or the traffic congestion for that matter.

Consider this important factor: if people started taking public transportation on a large scale, when would women have the chance to put on their makeup? We would either have to hit that snooze button one less time, or do it on the bus with everyone staring at us. And what happens when some woman gets her eyelid pinched in the eyelash curler? There is no better place for screaming obscenities than one's own car, and anyone who has ever used an eye lash curler knows what kind of things you say when you get your eyelid stuck in the blasted thing. This example can also be applied to men shaving. Do we really want to see them shaving on the bus or in the light rail car?

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