None of America's public transit agencies covered their operating costs (not to mention capital costs) with farebox revenue, parking charges, and other "user fees" before the pandemic. On the other side of COVID, fewer are even trying.
As the last of the $69 billion in pandemic-era federal transit aid is spent, transit agencies and advocates have gone clamoring for more taxpayer subsidies they say are necessary to avoid a "doom loop," "death spiral," or some other self-perpetuating apocalyptic vortex of ever-falling service, ridership, and revenue.
