Public Transit needs a tune-up.

The more I look at government-controlled business, the more I dislike it. Here's some background:

I live in a lower-middle class suburb of Montreal, Canada. To the right of me, I see La Belle Ville. To the left, an area in development, off the island. I live approximately in between downtown and Rigaud, the last town before Ontario. The difference is that I can get downtown in about an hour and a half from where I am, but it is impossible to get to Rigaud without a car. Why?

Because the government owns public transit.

Allow me to explain. Local government takes taxes from us, the people, against our will, to fund a system of mass transit: buses, trains, metro, et cetera. The people still pay a fee to use these services, but a good chunk of our transit company's funding comes from government sources, which means from us, with or without our permission. This allows the company to run at a loss, ensuring mass transit for all, even in times of economic hardship.

Many of you may be asking, what's wrong with that? I like lower prices on my public transit!

What's wrong with it is that our transit authority (and I use that term loosely), the Societe du Transport de Montreal, is known for its shady drivers, loose schedules, and dubious attendance record. It is not uncommon for buses to be either freakishly late or not show up entirely at their scheduled stops. What's worse is that nobody can be held accountable for their actions. If it were a road traffic problem, then less stops would be scheduled. If it's a driver smoking a doobie and getting lost, he would have been fired and it would be taken care of, but it's been happening for years and continues as a major problem today.

Now, let's look at this from a capitalist perspective. If competition were allowed to reign free in the mass transit sector, employees would be kissing the consumer's ass in order to get their money. That means better service for cheaper, in order to undercut the other guy. When companies compete, the consumer wins. Every time.

Let's change the bus system already. I'm sick of having to wait for my bus every morning, hoping it's going to actually show up, how about you?