Originally Posted by
tandempower
If I bought myself a car as payment for providing you with just enough transit service to get to work and back, so you could also buy a car; you could refuse and keep riding transit until the schedules and routes improve, or you could give up and give in to buying a car, which would waste more of your money, put you in debt, and eat into your ability to save in the long run; but many people choose to sacrifice the future for the present - and end up paying the price of doing so in the long run.
Not if they have creditors that insist they drive to get a higher paying job so they can pay more money to their creditors.
I still contend that has nothing to do with why we as a nation have backed off of buses. The more "if, and if and if," you add doesn't add credence to the argument. You or the government are buying anything for me or mass transit. You or the government are using either your money, for you, or in the governments case everyone else's money for the public. In the governments case to fund what the voters are willing to support so people in the government can keep their job. That also doesn't solve the concerns about mass transit. If the contention is mass transit buses are to give the poor a transportation option fine it still doesn't make buses fix the problems I indicated.
People finance their house or pay rent, it must be budgeted. Nothing new there. If people want a nicer house or apartment they know they have to pay more for it. Nothing new there. People have to decided what to spend their money on and work to find a way to do so. Some people work hard to make more money, a house keeper that takes on more customers comes to mind, or others keep looking for better jobs and work their way through the system of their company. There is even one car free person here that uses houses they have purchased and rent out to supplement their living choices. None of that has anything to do with why we as a nation see buses as less desirable. I even know of some that "choose" to live on close to minimum wage and then complain about not being able to afford to live like everyone else.
Complaining that life isn't fair doesn't solve the problems with mass transit.