Hacker News Reader

Most other (international) metros are owned by private entities (which may be owned by the government (e.g. Tokyo metro which is owned by both the Japanese government and the Tokyo government)).

If you let the city own the MTA, they'll never make hard decisions because they'll be at the mercy of voters.

View on HN

Private companies owning metros is actually relatively rare. Note that public transit is usually not run for a profit, since many of the benefits of transit cannot be captured by fares. (Those companies that are privately run generally make money by owning the high-value land around).

A very interesting history of the NYC subway. https://www.amazon.com/722-Miles-Building-Subways-Transforme...

It's been years since I read it, but as I recall, the system was built by private entities, who were gradually driven out of business when the city set a cap on the price of a fare (first at a nickel, then at a dime). When they folded one by one, they got subsumed into the MTA, and I guess at some point it was decided that it was ok to raise the price.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com