DEATH SPIRAL: New York’s subway riders are going Galt.

There’s a sense that things are getting worse, so people are just voting with their feet at this point, taking Uber, their cars, maybe an illegal bus van, or else biking, scootering, or walking. Why put up with the smell, mess, crime, delay, and hassle? I’ve lived in New York and know that subways can work. But they can work only if there are strict rules, and those rules are strictly focused on the ultimate aim of ensuring the comfort of the paying customer along with reliability. Rule of law, in other words, is critical if a system wants to keep people riding.

In socialist New York, which is run by Mayor Bill de Blasio, the cops are the bad guys, and the quality of life problems are just “oh,” so nothing is ever going to get done. What’s worse, with zero enforcement of standards, the “broken window” theory takes hold, and the crimes accelerate, which is the trend we see now. Net result: People stay the heck away, and the cash no longer flows in.

What do we get? Approximately the same thing we see going on in Venezuela: the smothering love of the state suddenly becoming just smothering – and the money running out.

Yet amazingly, the left wants you to get out of your car and take one of these collective riding horrors.

Of course they do.