Comment Re:This is not exactly correct... (Score 1) 551
The reset stats button is down at the bottom of that page.
Exactly. This service doesn't really cost $10 per month. To figure out the real cost of the network, you'd have to add together all the expenses the city incurred creating/maintaining the service, and divide that by the number of people using the service. At $10 per month, I doubt the service will ever be profitable (maintenance will be expensive!), but the city's goal isn't to make a profit anyway.
The thing is, the reason people using the service are paying $10 per month is because the rest of the money is coming from taxes/deficit spending. Hell, some people who aren't even using the service might be paying more than that for the people who are making use of it.
The better situation is one where people pay for what they make use of. I'd rather not pay for other people's luxuries and I wouldn't want others paying for me.
I feel like many industries are afraid of what new technology is going to do to their bottom line. Because of this, you see these very defensive moves that hurt the growth of the industry and hurt the consumer. Really, I think these businesses should be first asking the question, 'what's the best way for the consumer to make use of our products?', and then ask the question, 'how can we monetize it?'.
If you provide a value, I believe people are willing to pay for it. On the other hand, if you fail to provide what people want, you're just asking for someone to step in and replace what you do (or dominate the marketplace, as in the case of Apple and the RIAA).
Life is a healthy respect for mother nature laced with greed.