This won't come as a shock to most of you, but once again the Feds have made matters worse -- not better -- with a new crop of laws and regulations. This time it's a law that prevents public transit systems from using their vehicles for special events. In Lincoln, that means Star Tran can no longer offer Christmas light tours, and Husker game day Big Red Express buses might be out, too.
The purpose of the rules is to protect private mass transit operators from unfair competition by the government. That's all well and good. But the law harms rather than helps when no private entity is willing or able to step in and offer the same services. The holiday light tour isn't any big loss from a transportation perspective. Losing Big Red Express, on the other hand, would force hundreds more cars onto Lincoln's already-clogged game day streets. That's probably why it sounds like Lincoln will modify the service rather than eliminate it. That'll mean a net loss of $140,000, but it's plausible that the direct and indirect costs of not offering Big Red Express are higher. If any of you amateur economists out there want to take a stab at the numbers, please go right ahead.
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