So… if users in Caracas of the public good we call rapid transit are frustrated about how queing does, or does not work, they can order THEIR R&D team to come up with some propoals about how the problem might be better solved. Longer-run solutions probably would run along the lines of building more public transit lines, running more trains on existing lines, extending the hours of operation of the transit system. Since all these solutions entail additional social costs, the city-wide consumer federation would have to consider if they wanted to raise the portion of their overall consumption they take in the form of public goods instead of private, or individual goods, to carry one of the out. Or, the city-wide federation of consumer councils could propose to the city-wide federation of worker councils that they stagger their starting and quitting times more appropriately. This might be done with little, or no increase in social costs. In any case, the R&D team could flesh these ideas out for the members of the city federation of consumer councils to consider, and then vote on. The city federation of consumers could also ask their R&D team to propose shorter-run solutions — like painting lines, or using poles and ribbons in particular ways to avoid pushing and hasten entry and exit into trains — as was apparently done.

I agree there are issues that involve expertise, and therefore there is a need for experts. And many aspects of transportation in a city like Caracas need to be coordinated as a whole — centrally if one likes that term. But that doesn’t mean that a group of experts working for a “central” transportation agency for the city must be the ones who themselves (1) decide what problems to work on, on what problems not to work on, (2) formulate solutions for problems they prioritize, and (3) impliment their ideas about what to do. In my conception the consumers of transportation services should be mainly responsible for identification of problems, prioritizing problems, and choosing solutions — directing transportation experts who work for them to help them think through various options. The difference in my conception and the usual conception is that in my conception the experts work under the direction of the consumers and the consumers ultilmately vote and decide to approve of some proposal for ameliorating queing problems.

A subway system is certainly a part of a city-wide transportation system that must be coordinated as a whole — or centrally. But that doesn’t mean that the city transportation department staffed by experts answering only to a mayor — even if democratically elected — should be the ones making decisions about how to run it.