A Public Purpose For Public Transit: A Response To The EPI Report

Details

• Creators:
  Cox, Wendell ; Love, Jean
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Competitive bidding
  • Contracting
  • Management
  • Privatization
  • Public policy
  • Administration and Management
  • Finance
  • Policy
  • Public Transportation
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• TRIS Online Accession Number:
  00805929
• Corporate Publisher:
  Reason Foundation
• Abstract:
  This paper examines the competitive contracting issues raised by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report, "The Emperor's New Clothes: Transit Privatization and Public Policy". The EPI report alleges that competitive contracting, or privatization, of public transit services results in higher costs, lower service levels, and is at odds with the objective of reducing automobile usage through increased reliance on public transit. By contrast, this paper documents the following points: 1. Public transit cost increases outpaced medical care and gasoline. 2. Competitive contracting reduces the costs of public transit. 3. Competitive contracting is a sound public management strategy. 4. Competitively contracted service is safe and reliable. 5. Public transit has a public purpose.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/38936/dot_38936_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 645.75 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:2ff1989f38cd947e0df95e75415e6b0fb42366ecf640fcbccf90c8d950d8f4b0