>>1707097>for trains to be profitableGoing to stop you right here. This idea that anything and everything should be profitable is why society is coming down around our ears. Transportation, like mail/parcel delivery or providing utilities for example, is not something that should be expected to make a profit, it is a necessity for a modern society to function and should be owned by the government in order to eliminate profit motive. That doesn't mean you can't charge for it, farebox recovery should be utilized to lower the overall cost to the government, and I do like the Japan Rail companies' strategy of developing areas around stations to provide housing, shopping, leisure activities, and so on in order to get more income via tenant rents and also drive additional development around the station.
And yes, I believe that airline companies should also be government owned given that they can only function without massive bailouts under the only the best of economic circumstances, and interstate roads should all be charge for use based on the number of axles (relates to amount of wear) on the road. Tractor-trailer rigs do absolute fuckloads of damage to our interstates, and they get a free pass for it.
