My experience on government transportation was HELL

Earlier this week, I decided to test out the transit system in Lawrence just to get a better idea of what it was like. After my experience, I must say I have never felt so grateful for the free market which can do what the government does, only way better. For context, I went on a confusing adventure that, had I been in my own car, or even an Uber or Lyft, may have taken a half-hour at most. Instead, my misadventure took nearly five hours. 

I started at 10 a.m. at a friend’s house where I first had to walk to a nearby bus stop where I waited for a bus for over 20 minutes. I want to quickly contrast that with the free market where I don’t have to walk anywhere. I can just pull out my phone and get an Uber or Lyft wherever I’m at and it will pick me up on my time, rather than me waiting for it.

The bus eventually took me to Rock Chalk where I got off only to realize five minutes later that I left my wallet on the bus. I pulled it out to pay for the ride, only to find out that riding the new electric bus was subsidized by the taxpayers so I could ride without cost, and I guess I just forgot to put it back in my pocket. Had this been me taking transportation provided by the free market, I could have easily contacted the driver who would come directly back to me to give me my wallet. That was not the case here… In stead, I had to call Lawrence Transit who told me that “nothing has been reported yet” but they would give me a call as soon as something came in. About ten minutes later, I received that call and it was then up to me to navigate the confusing bus system in order to get to a place I had never been in order to get my wallet. 

After hopping on a number of different busses and waiting at sketchy bus stops, I finally got to the place that I needed to be at 1 p.m. However, I could not get my wallet back because the guy who was supposed to be at the desk was off to lunch until 1:30 p.m. and didn’t actually get back until 1:40 p.m. Again, I was stuck waiting on the government rather than having a driver in the free market serve me right away.

I then hopped on a bus and found my way to a place that was at least somewhat walkable back to my friend’s house. The last bus was filled with really loud and dirty looking people, and again, I just thought if I was using the free market, it could just be me and the driver and they would take me directly to my friend’s place.  

I will say, the first passenger I saw was an old man with a grocery bag, so he probably could no longer drive and had no one who could take him to the store. Furthermore, due to the bus ride being at no cost, he may very well have been on a budget and found the bus to be his best option. There were also several college kids who rode the buses as well. The buses I was on were never full, and I was the only person on the first bus I took, however, it’s clear from my experience that they do get used. I can sympathize with the fact that for some people this is their best mode of transportation, especially if they are on a budget. However, it is important to remember that, while on the face, they are riding at no cost to them, they are in fact paying through their tax dollars to keep those big electric buses running. Lawrence is also an incredibly expensive place with really high taxes thanks to the local government. It does call into question how much the government has intervened to cause these individuals to rely on government transportation.

It’s clear to me that the free market is far superior and I could not imagine living in a world where we relied on an inefficient government for everything. I did not travel a long ways on the buses, covering very little of the city, and yet I spent the day utilizing them to get from point A to point B having to go to areas of Lawrence I had no need to be in just to reach my destination.

To me, this was a very profound experiment that showed me the importance of protecting the free market from government which regularly makes things worse and cannot be an efficient substitute.