People tend to forget that many of the most effective public transit systems were originally built out by private companies and then acquired by governments after the private company went bankrupt. A good chunk of the public transit systems on the East Coast at least are the result of the railroad boom & bust at the turn of the 20th century. Transportation at scale, is not all that profitable in the long run. Yet people still depend on it. That's why government is involved in the first place.

It's probably not a bad pattern - let private companies innovate and rapidly build up the new networks and then have public administrators step in when the private sector fails to turn a profit.

Reading a related article, about "super commuters" who use the Megabus to commute to NYC from Philadelphia ( http://www.villagevoice.com/news/meet-phillys-super-commuter... ) - it's another example of a private company filling in a gap in public transit infrastructure, albeit less high-tech. Might lead to improvements of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor at some point, or dedicated BRT lanes on I-95, who knows. Either way it's a private business demonstrating increased demand, and the public sector will eventually catch up.