While we focus on New York around these parts, transit systems across the nation are suffering financially. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal examined a recent cost-saving phenomenon sweeping the transportation nation: Municipalities are outsourcing their transit operations to private companies to save money. Through streamlined management and the ability to pay below-union wages, these companies can bring cost savings to those cities have the flexibility to bring them aboard.
Of course, it isn’t all wine and roses. As Elana Schor at Streetsblog Capitol Hill noted yesterday, some outsourced deals — companies are loathe to use the word “privatization” — seemingly come with safety trade-offs. Organized labor suffers as well under these deals. The fight to make transit affordable continues.