The Horrors Of Public Transport
Patriot Act’s latest episode tackles something that many people have suffered from at some point in their lives. Living on the south coast of the UK, I am forever plagued by the issues surrounding our rail company, Southern Rail. From inflated ticket prices and delays, through to broken carriage toilets and messiness, the trains are less than ideal. After a wacky introduction showcases Hasan’s struggles with catching public transport, this leads nicely into today’s topic – America’s ongoing issue with public transit and just why it’s hated and vilified so much. Unlike Britain, the USA somehow have a worse system with crumbling tunnel walls and less people using transit thanks to its eye-watering number of delays and cancellations. On top of zoning issues and funding problems, the Government are also to blame, slashing public funding while putting more money into highways. With Trump refusing to put money into fixing the rail infrastructure, a hilarious Norweigan Bus advert breaks up the drama before we’re led on to discussing the Koch Brothers who have stakes in everything to do with gas and cars. Agenda-driven, these siblings have spent millions funding AFP to kill off the public transit system. In Milwaukee, this has seen Scott Walker elected, where he’s gone on to personally attack the public transport system, leading to a lawsuit that he had to settle. As the episode draws to a close, we show Phoenix green-lighting a new light-rail system that has gone on to help the state immensely. Unfortunately, Conservative groups are rallying against this and causing serious roadblocks along the way. Following an amusing final tidbit involving the reality TV Koch Brothers, Hasan leaves the topic wide open for debate. With plenty of humour and informative issues discussed here, personally I would have liked to see Britain brought into the conversation too. Over the pond we’re suffering from many of the same issues, but mainly thanks to privatization of the railways and rising costs. It’s a vicious cycle and one that doesn’t look like it’s close to being solved any time soon. With no solid answers for the future, Hasan leaves things wide open for where this may go but the topic is still an important one, raising some serious concerns over the well-being of our public transit system in the future.
