Post #3134192
2026-05-04 15:39 UTC
@mspcommentary@mastodon.online Depends. Italo in particular was extremely important in improving the Italian railways. Before their arrival, Trenitalia was both arrogant and often incompetent.
Which is to say, where the state operator does a good job, there is no need for competition. But if they are a maliciously blockading all improvements, competition is pretty much the only option, given that they will have the government’s ear.
Replies (1)
-
@mspcommentary@mastodon.online 2026-05-04 17:02
@partim@social.tchncs.de but it's the government that sets up the competition, right? So the government couldn't have been completely behind them. Isn't the real question why the Italian government couldn't fix Trenitalia any other way than letting private companies in? I suppose we can see it as a pendulum. You have to allow privatisation so that people can see exactly how bad the private sector can be (eg. UK water companies), and then you can go back to state-owned, if you can afford to buy it back...