Comment by kiba
10 hours ago
With public transit, value capture is possible if you have the right business model. Public transit is ultimately real estate development.
However, I prefer that the value capture is by the public rather than a private corporation.
Public Transit was very much thrown in there as an example of the kinds of societal-good projects that often are "bad" business models or run at a loss (Japan being a very notable exception, kinda). Thing is, anyone even casually looking at n+1-order effects sees that the value created isn't for the transit system itself, but all the components that make it function (jobs, logistics, and materials for trains, rails, signals, ports, tunnels, etc) and all the effects of easing people movement (more money to spend, more job opportunities, cleaner air, safer streets, etc). Real estate is one such effect, provided communities recognize the benefit of real estate near stations and not let naysayers constrict development around them (like you see in much of America, for some reason).