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Public transportation, or mass transit, should be free. Not free of cost to riders but free from government interference through subsidies or needless regulation. Such interference in the natural market of transportation distorts incentives and takes away the power of consumers to direct the market to meet their needs.

To begin we should do away with the misconception. Nothing is free. Mass transit might be made free to the consumers, the riders, but that just means that someone other than the person who is using the service is paying for it. Generally that means taxpayers who may, or may not, get any benefit from the system.

To get an idea of the problems with this, let's look at something that is far more important to human life than transportation. What would it mean if food were free? Food is so important that if we do without it for even a few days our health can be seriously compromised. Much more than a week without food and we are likely to die. If we use the same argument used to justify government handouts for mass transit, by making people pay for food we are promoting hunger and starvation. However, that ignores the mechanics of the market versus the realities of government.

If we were to provide free food we would have to answer a lot of questions. Would we provide the same food to everyone, everyday? How would we ensure that everyone got enough food? How would we ensure that some didn't take advantage of the free food and get too much food? How do the bureaucrats decide what is the right food for one person or another? What about people with special needs? Do they just get stuck with the same food as everyone else? Or, do we have our leaders plan a diet that is safe for everyone and that's what we all get?

The way we solve those problems of choice and allocation is through the market. Food costs money. Some food costs more money than other food. People are allowed to make choices as to what they spend their money on. Some choose to spend more on steaks. Some choose to save and spend less buying chicken. Some might prefer rice while others would prefer potatoes.

Government planning can never take into consideration the choices of the billions of people on the planet.

Pricing in markets conveys information that is far more important than just the cost of production or the greed of the producers. Markets convey the relative values of all participants in the market. Value is a concept that is vastly misunderstood and under-rated. Value is the consideration

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