I was engaging you with a serious question. Right away you respond with sarcasm.
I am sure they still have a profit margin to stick to, wouldn't you assume? They may pay market prices but that doesn't mean they won't jack prices sky high for something that is more of a luxury. I don't pretend to know what these other countries use to power all of their different types of public transportation. Do you know? I would say electricity, magnets, fuel, gas, natural gas, propane... I am sure it's a long list. At some point when people aren't buying gasoline the price will have to go up and in some cases, way up. Do you not agree with that? In some of these countries the percentage of people who strictly use public transportation is well above 50%. It's really low here as most Americans have cars and in many cases multiple cars and don't have access to public transportation.
Thoughts?
OK. I read it more as a statement. It was declarative, with no question mark.
Yes, business always has a margin to meet, but they don’t just pick random numbers. They follow the markets, and go for the thinnest margin they can in order to beat competition, but still make profit. What ends up happening is all the stations in a region charge the same price and try to make their money on all the extras they sell. Competition keeps the price down, but speculation in the world commodities markets drives the COGS.
Kenya has the highest use of mass transit in the world. Almost none of it is public sector. Buses, minivans, mini-buses, motorcycles. Gas powered. Their average price on June 13th was $5.14/gallon (your out of pocket cost if you bought Kenyan instead of US gas).
Australia ranks 3rd lowest in terms of mass transit use. Their price on the same day was $5.22 US/gallon
Canada is in the 2nd lowest. On June 13th they averaged $6.76 US/gallon.
USA is the lowest user of mass transport. On June 13th, we averaged $5.00 /gallon.
If demand drops, prices will drop as reserves increase and speculators stop buying. Increase reserves makes the commodity less valuable.
This is the basic law of supply and demand. We saw what it did when the COVID lockdowns began and when they ended, and every holiday, and whenever things mess with the supply chain (like major oil spills, pipeline disruption, sea-borne rigs blowing up, refinery disruptions).
Tons of historical examples exist.