Yeah, I don’t mean the “global elite.” Just the overpaid techies. In cities where the median cost of a house is measured in the millions of dollars, there’s money to be captured for as great a cause as free transit.

Exactly. And it’s not for every trip. There are plenty of trips - especially off-peak trips - for which a car is still going to make way more sense. You’re not going to take a bus to the beach with your surfboard, unless you really hate yourself and your fellow riders.

There was a company called Chariot which did exactly that (except without the electric part). Turns out, they were just copying San Francisco Muni routes anyway, because those routes are going along the paths where people want to travel.

Do you have any evidence to support that contention? As mentioned above, in the cities I’ve lived in (not just SF), operators are specifically told not to challenge fare evaders because they aren’t trained for it, and because they don’t want to escalate the situation into a real safety concern.

While that is a beautiful metaphor, I just don’t think that it’s supported by data.

I'd go with increasing taxes on large businesses operating downtown, since they are the ones which cause most congestion by forcing workers to be in the same place at the same time. I'd also be happy with a straight progressive income tax. These superstar cities have unimaginable wealth in them, and the wealthy aren't…

The only source that I could find quickly says that the farebox recovery ratio is 39% across all of the MBTA system, so a 61% subsidy.

Come on out here to San Francisco and tell me that having fares has any effect on the behavior of mentally ill people on transit.

Fare inspectors aren't trained to provide security anyway.

Yep. Most mass transit is already at least 75% free to the rider - as in, the farebox only covers less than 25% of operating costs.

Dear god, steps 1, 2, and 3, need to be “TURN OFF THE CIRCUIT BREAKER.”

Maybe that’s the self-perpetuating part. Once the turkey is cut, the surface area grows and it’ll start to cool really quickly. I could totally see people saying, “oh, next time let’s tent it to keep the heat in,” not realizing that it won’t do any good because the cooling is almost all happening post-cut.

Moral of the…

Many airlines don’t even use row 13 because of superstitious passengers.

Overbooking is actually much less common than it used to be, thanks to the David Dao incident and most airlines deciding never to IDB (involuntarily deny boarding). This is why you hear about people getting $10,000 flight vouchers.

Good point, the article and my chart should make it clearer that this is based on adjusted income. I'll wait to see if there are more suggestions and post an updated version.

Here’s a chart. Not perfect, but it’s easier to explain than cross-posting to a different, chartless article about marginal versus effective tax rates.

Its terrible when All Republicans stereotype people racially. /s

Would all the "jail every motorist" people who commented on the initial post weigh in on if this example of due process is sufficient?

Outraged? Where did you get outraged? There are lots of things that are terrible that nobody is outraged about... hence why we’re melting ourselves slowly.