Improving public transit - a conversation

"Paying less (in) taxes isn't entitlement."
But - paying a reasonable rate for taxes is the mark of a progressive tax system, designed to not allow higher-income earners to hoard the lion's share of the money supply. I know that the high income earners pay the majority of taxes - but that's because they also pull in most of the money.

"Keeping the money I work hard for should be a consideration before further subsidies to a transit system that recovers less than 20% of its costs through user fees."
"A private business is called a taxi and can't compete with public transit because of the 80%+ subsidy by the rest of us. NOBODY can compete with governments because people like you vote for those that force people like me to subsidize your entitlements."

I'll try your approach, then. Tell a bunch of potential transit companies that have deep pockets already that "There is money to be had for you, coming from people who need to get places in a reasonable amount of time at a rate less than taxi fares, but still with a great profit margin!"

Let's say the user fee for this imaginary new service was somewhere in between a taxi fare and a regular bus fare: $5.00 for one ride, $40.00 for a weekly unlimited pass, $120.00 for a monthly pass.

Yes, that's more than the monthly public transit bus pass, and so not something everyone can afford, but it would still be cheaper than owning a car over the same period.

If we had something like this, some people would buy it, which would free up some space on the more packed routes, like the 301 and 401 that I see filled to capacity every day.

The bus/taxi hybrid alternative would stop at major ports of call, of course, but passengers could also specify destinations to moderately alter the route.
Perhaps it could be a series of short buses - with room for 8 passengers each - a car pool on steroids, as it were.

You would board the bus, flash your pass and then input a destination.
Then a computer would calculate the best route to accommodate all the passengers and flash it on a screen for all to see.

I don't know if it would work, but I think a pilot project would be in order. If it proves profitable, perhaps it could be a model for the future of public transit.

The only problem I can see arising from this is that it would still put more vehicles on the already clogged roads for a short time, before more people started abandoning their cars to use it.

"Maybe when you are a little older, and have some life experience,
you will understand the impact of non-stop government waste."

Government waste is one thing. I'm looking at the Senate scandals and the F-35 boondoggle nationally.

But on a local level, anything to improve transit would be good.

So yes, if more taxes are just going to be wasted, perhaps there needs to be another approach. I'm still waiting for one to emerge here in Sudbury.