[sustran] Chris Zegras on Profitable urban transit

V. Setty Pendakur pendakur at interchange.ubc.ca
Thu Aug 21 00:12:50 JST 1997


Dinesh Mohan wrote:
> 
> This debate on the possibility of private public transit being
> profitable  seems to be among people debating the merits of capitalism vs
> socialism and not about public transit.  Quite sterile, really!

It is good to hear from Dr. Mohan.  I can assure him that the comments by Chris Zegras 
(who started all this discussion) Wendel Cox ( a person of tremendous professional 
experience and stature ), and myslef are not meant , in any way, to be a debate on " 
capitalism and or socialism ".  My conern is not on ownership but on "making the best 
use of the financial reources available in any particular country.  If it is not 
possible to reduce the leakage factor, whether it is Jakarta or New delhi or Bangalore 
transit system, mainly because they are publicly owned, then ownership is a major 
challenege.  Singapore system is set up like a private company but with a lot of public 
ownership.  The leakage factor is zero.  Therefore, who owns the system is not in 
question.  In my humble opinion, in Indian cities, the leakage factor is enormously high 
because the systems are publicly owned.  one can also say there is no leakage factor 
there or it exists in every country, this becomes a major question only when the leakage 
factor is vry large.

Yes, the whole question of social equity, poverty alleviation, and mobility as a basic 
need and right and environmental impacts and non-motorized modes, have to be factored 
into determination of fares irrespective of which country it is.  Having done all that, 
are the systems oprating efficiently.

Sorry Mohan..............this aint a debate on either Socialism or Market Economy with 
Chinese Charactertistics!!!!

Whatever the topic or comments, it is good to hear from you even via the sustran net.  
You have to buy me a beer the next time I see you for making me write again.  Cheers.
 
> Developing countries are not on Mars. Some of the people dabating these
> issues should have the minimum honesty of living in these societies,
> using diffrent transport modes over long periods of time, understanding
> the social and qualitative and political effects of different transport
> policies before commenting on how "successful" certain private operations
> are.  I suppose people who don't want political interference in descision
> making would prefer fascist dictators instead.

you are right..............all transport investment decisions are political..in all 
countrries...we can fudge a bit with all the inadequate economic analysis but all the 
weighting in the analysis reflects the politics of the days and the country.........this 
includes the question of direct subsidies, indirect taxes and cross subsidies, and 
preferential treatment of certain modes.
> 
>         Batman and Superman are better reads if one just wants to be
> convinced about unbridled free enterprise as the perfect ideology to live by.

Will go to the next Batman movie!!!
> 
>                                         Dinesh Mohan
> 
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Professor Dinesh Mohan                  Office: (91 11) 685 8703
> Head, Centre for Biomedical Engineering         (91 11) 666979 Ext 3140
> & WHO Collaborating Centre              FAX:    (91 11) 686 2037
> Indian Institute of Technology          Home:   (91 11) 649 4910
> New Delhi 110016                        E-mail: dmohan at cbme.iitd.ernet.in
> India
> *****************************************************************************


Very best wishes.........................
-- 
Dr. V. Setty Pendakur, Professor of Planning
University of British Columbia, 6333 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2
voice : 1-604-822-3394, home : 1-604-263-3576
Fax : 1-604-822-3787




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