‘Poor people have it too good’

I’m so sick of Bloomberg lol

Is it a public bad?

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To be clear, I think this article is bs. Since when is public transit not a public good???

I saw it was Bloomberg and went “nope don’t need to get worked over BS today”

Well, it's Bloomberg so I assume it's because rich people don't use it and can't be arsed to realize that it allows the poors to travel to work. And if they did think about it, they'd just expect the moochers riding transit to buy cars with their fancy coffee and avocado toast budgets.

Because the wealthy fucks that take Bloomberg seriously are delusional, out of touch wankers.

Public good is a widely used economics term that refers to a good such that, once provided, the good is 1) non-rivalrous and 2) non-excludable. By this definition transit is not a public good.

Non-rivalrous basically means “your use doesn’t affect my use.” Crowding out can occur very easily in transit so it’s rivalrous.

Non-excludable basically means no one can prevent you from accessing it. We install payment systems at the entrance so we do exclude people.

Textbook examples of public goods include national defense and clean air. Public transit should be well supported and financed, but they’re right it doesn’t meet the definition.

What a pile of semantical excrement.

Nobody is confused by the common usage of “public good,” regardless of the purely academic textbook definition the author cites.

By any commonly understood meaning of the concept, public transit fits as a public good. Particularly when compared to the competing source for public investment and public space usage — roads.

“Roads are great buts it not a public good.”

See how dumb that is?

Wow that was a long-winded "um, actually".

The article also says roads aren’t a public good since they don’t meet the two conditions for them to be considered such.

And it should be financed via fiscal support from the state and fees paid by users.

Neat, lets start by tolling per mile every road. I live in a city and can walk wherever I want, good luck libertarians in Utah who live 40 miles from everything

Since it's rivalrous (no one can sit in your seat while you're in it) and excludable (they can exclude non payers if they choose).

That means it doesn't not meet the criteria of a public good.

It is a private good or, maybe, a merit good.