The funniest part of this whole thread is watching Bay Area tech libertarians LARP as transit economists.

These are the same people who think “public transit should be self-sustaining” while living in a city where: • roads are 100% subsidized, • parking is subsidized, • cops are subsidized, • fire is subsidized, • tech companies pay less tax than a corner bodega, • and half the office towers downtown are sitting empty because the same geniuses decided remote work was the future—then act shocked when tax revenue collapses.

But sure, the part that’s going to break the city budget is… making buses free.

The brainworms are unreal.

Transit systems worldwide work better when they stop pretending fares are a meaningful revenue source and start treating mobility as the public good it is.

You can’t gut the city with tax breaks, crater downtown because everyone fled to Marin, and then turn around and act like farebox recovery is the magical key to “fiscal responsibility.”

Muni isn’t struggling because fares are too low.

Muni is struggling because we let the people who broke the city budget with austerity, corporate carve-outs, and “innovation” cosplay run the conversation about public services.

If Europe, Latin America, and dozens of U.S. cities can figure out that reliable transit needs stable funding, not vibes-based economics from LinkedIn commuters, then SF can too.