Monday, November 16, 2009

Taxis as Public Transit?


Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Walmart, has come up with an innovative strategy to solve mobility problems for low income citizens. As a town of less than 34,000, it would make little sense to invest heavily in public transit infrastructure. Instead, State Senator Kim Hendren successfully lobbied to reinstate a program that subsidizes taxi cabs. The program provides 25 $2 coupons to low income individuals to lower the cost of taxi rides. The program costs a mere $25,000. This is the kind of innovative program that small municipal governments should experiment with, rather than automatically opting for expensive conventional public transit options.

2 comments:

  1. Not a half bad idea. Definitely cheaper than public transit, and more effective in small towns.

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  2. Alberta (Calgary) has a similar program for disabled who qualify.

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