I’m writing this on Giving Tuesday (Nov. 29). A Manhattan community center launched this annual day of charitable giving four years ago as a philanthropic antidote to the rampant consumerism that starts before Thanksgiving and continues relentlessly through Christmas. And then, if you think about it, New Year’s Day sales and President’s Day sales. Valentine’s Day. Memorial Day. Fourth of July.

In the U.S., every day is buying day.

Anyway, it occurs to me that Public Works readers give of themselves every day they work. Yes, you’re paid for it. But being a public servant is just that: serving the often ungrateful, sometimes unreasonable public. The relationship between your department or agency and residents is similar to the parent/child relationship. Parents are older and know what’s best, but kids want to do what they want to do, even when it’s not good for them.

Like parents, public agencies get very good at devising the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down.

I came up with this analogy when I received a Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) press release announcing free rides on a new route. Like many cities, Baltimore is working hard to integrate various modes of public transportation that were installed in fits and starts as the city grew and shrank and expanded again and now, because the public demands it, also must safely accommodate bicycles and car-sharing.

Gov. Larry Hogan announced the $135 million plan in October 2015. It’s slated to be completed by summer or fall 2017. That gives MTA and its parent, the Maryland DOT, less than 24 months to rework a half-century-old network with bus-only traffic lanes, prioritized signaling, 12 new routes, suburb-to-suburb service, and rebranding more than 6,500 signs. No pressure there!

BaltimoreLink is expected to increase access to jobs by 20%. That’s 34,400 jobs. MTA began running one new route between Baltimore and the county’s largest employer in October 2016, but apparently people still must be incentivized to use it. If the Chicago Transit Authority offered free service for an entire work week, saving me $3 to $5 a ride, believe me, I’d take advantage of it if I could.

“This is a great reverse-commute service,” says MTA Administrator and CEO Paul Comfort. “Once people see its convenience and low cost, we’re confident many will choose to leave their cars home every workday.”

I hope they do.

Safe and happy holidays to you and your loved ones.