This all hinges on people utterly ignoring the expense of maintaining the road system.
If you factor in the spending on highways and road systems that can support high speed private vehicles at no direct cost to the end user, other forms of transport get incredibly competitive. Highway spending alone accounts for a quarter of a trillion per year. That doesn't account for spending at lower levels of government for streets and other car infrastructure.
>Plus the public will still want some sort of authority figure on the bus or train.
There are plenty of driverless transit systems. It is a very solved problem.
I'm saying that even with the current approach to taxpayer-funded roads, operating a local bus service cannot be done at a profit to the operator if they rely on fares alone. All public transit systems require substantial funding beyond what they receive in fares. And rail lines cost even more than roads do.
Privatizing such services and maintaining affordable fares is a complete non-starter. It cannot be done.
If you factor in the spending on highways and road systems that can support high speed private vehicles at no direct cost to the end user, other forms of transport get incredibly competitive. Highway spending alone accounts for a quarter of a trillion per year. That doesn't account for spending at lower levels of government for streets and other car infrastructure.
>Plus the public will still want some sort of authority figure on the bus or train.
There are plenty of driverless transit systems. It is a very solved problem.