what are the pros and cons with having a commuter rail system?
the city of Milwaukee and the surrounding cities is looking into having a commuter rail installed. there are many good reasons to have one, better way of traveling, creates more jobs, it’s faster. then there are few bad reasons that many people have on their minds, is the cost of having it, and what it would do with taxes, and who will be paying for it.
so what are the pros and cons to having commuter rail?
No public transportation system in the United States makes enough money from fares to cover its costs of operation.
A commuter rail system however does have unseen public benefits (positive externalities, in econ lingo). Lower income people can get around without expending the monies necessary to buy and maintain an automobile. The objection to this is that the costs of a commuter rail represent a “transfer of wealth” from the relatively rich to the relatively poor, a cash flow that we’ve experienced as non-beneficial in the long term.
But, the hidden positive externalities do not stop at a rich-to-poor transfer. Commuter rail lessens pollution, decreases traffic gridlock, and often reclaims unused railroad property that is redundant to a road system. None of these benefits can be paid by individuals but they are all goods enjoyed by the entire community.
That community in the end must make a political choice on the desirability of funding a commuter rail system.
All Aboard – KRM Commuter Rail Transit NOW
