@ WDR:I think the transit system should provide safe, reliable transit. That's their goal. Anti-poverty programs should fight poverty, not the Transit Authority.
I really wish authors like this would grapple with this trade-off a bit better.
But being closed is not reliable. And go explain that service worker that got fired for not showing up because metro was closed that it's not up to transit to fight poverty. Transit just kicked them back into it, because of its lack of reliability.