Making Money in Public Transit

Writing for Citiwire, Alex Marshall looks at how the expansive system is able to turn a profit.

"The Hong Kong's metro system has been in the news in the New York city region because the chief of New York City's transit agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, shocked the region by announcing his departure to lead Hong Kong's system for a million-dollar plus annual salary. He left at a particularly bad time, breaking a seven year contract just as the MTA was facing yet another round of funding gaps and necessary cuts.

Given the perennial money-losing nature of most transportation departments, from highways to rail, it bears asking: how does Hong Kong do it?"