Pie Palace

A comment on one of my older posts about OC Transpo got me thinking:

If OC transpo had to run as most businesses, without subsidies.. the fares would have to increase by 227% to cover their costs. Think about that as you move towards the workforce, and remember to say thanks to everybody else you meet who subsidizes your travel.

One of the joys of living in our quasi-socialist society is that everyone subsidizes everyone else. I’ve subsidized countless hospital/doctor trips of my fellow citizens. I’ve paid part of the costs of our military and EI systems. I’ve subsidized the construction and staffing of schools that neither I nor my children will ever set foot in. I’ve subsidized the construction of roads to parts of the country I will never see. I’ve even subsidized the maintenance of sewers and roads out in the ‘burbs, which is a painfully inefficient use of my tax dollar.

I don’t expect anyone to thank me for doing that. It’s part of being a Canadian. When I ride the bus, I’m thankful to the people immediately involved in the process (the bus driver, OC Transpo staffers, and my fellow riders) who make the trip enjoyable.

Similarly, I don’t expect other people on the road to be grateful to me for lessening the wear and tear on the roads by using an efficient vehicle. I don’t expect children and the elderly to be grateful to me for lowering rates of respiratory ailments by producing less pollution than the folks that drive to work. I don’t expect society to be grateful to me for lengthening the life of our oil reserves.

Image by planeta_roig.