If Rich People Rode Buses...

The Valley Transportation Authority up in Silicon Valley where a couple of my daughters live held a big public hearing last night on their plans to slash bus service on "unprofitable" lines. More than 100 people showed up to object. The VTA gave 25 of them 2 minutes each. Not one person spoke in support.

So the board voted to allow the changes. The only reason they have public hearings is because the politicians get paid for attending them. They don't really listen to or give a crap about what anyone at the hearing says. The decision was made behind closed doors a long time ago.

This notion that government programs have to be profitable or pay their own way is insidious. One big reason we have government around to do stuff is because there are a lot of social needs to be met that private enterprise wouldn't meet precisely because of its need to be profitable. Providing public transportation so that those who either cannot afford their own vehicles or who choose to reduce their negative impact on the environment can get around to the places they need to go is a legitimate function of the government. It is not one that needs to be profitable.

You can bet your sweet patootie that if the folks riding those buses were rich people or even upper middle class folks, service wouldn't get cut. This is a tax policy decision, pure and simple. The government can't figure out how to make ends meet with its tax base so it cuts services. But it cuts those that affect the lower socio-economic groups every single time. The municipalities that make up the VTA have in recent months voted millions and millions of dollars in art subsidies and park maintenance but they can't scrape together a few bucks so that poor folks can get from Point A to Point B without having to walk most of the way.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. You can judge the moral uprightness of any society by the way it treats its least fortunate. By that standard, governments broadly in the U.S. get failing grades.