Jampacked transit systems running on fumes

[DuaneBidoux]

Source: MSNBC

Transportation experts who have pushed mass transit since the 1970s are getting their wish as soaring gas prices persuade Americans to abandon their cars for buses and trains in record numbers. But as the adage says, be careful what you wish for.

Mass transit ridership is at its highest point in 50 years, according to research by the American Public Transportation Association. For many riders, it just got too expensive to drive.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25010939/

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This is exactly the kind of thing Obama needs to hit hard with: "McCain wants to give the rich a tax break right when the country has desperate problems that need to be fixed, such as mass transit, roads, bridges, schools--instead he gives us the same old lines that guarantee that again we won't begin to fix any of our problems."

And he needs to reiterate what he has said over and over, most middle class and all working class will have NO tax increases and in fact workers will get a tax cut in the form of reduced SS taxes (and lift the cap on the rich), one of the best ideas I think he has for truly helping working folks as many pay much more in SS tax than federal income tax.

Over and over he needs to say that he will not raise taxes on workers, but McCain will cut them on the rich and corporations while letting our nation continue to fall into disrepair. I really believe this is a winning strategy.

[tblue37]

1. Here in our midwestern college town, our bus system, which is only

6 years old and which has 5 times the ridership that it had when it opened 6 years ago, is probably going to be ended because the city has insufficient funds to keep it going. Before the bus system opened, we had no mass transit at all for citizens, though the university had a bus system for students, and if it closes we will be right back where we started. Many of us with cars would ride the bus if it came more often on each route (right now the circuit takes 1 hour and 20 minutes), and the greatly increased ridership would help fund the buses, but instead of adding buses, they are expecting to just dump the system altogether.

I am appalled that city commissioners and so many citizens who own cars and therefore don't have to use the bus are willing to let our bus system die at a time when they should be adding routes and increasing the frequency of buses, so that they will be more convenient for everyone to ride. Talk about short-sighted!

[mtnester]

2. At least you have mass transit.

I live in a county where I cannot catch a bus, where there is no lite rail, nothing. I live in a county NEXT to a county whose idiot mayor thinks "trolleys" are the next best thing in mass transit, and has no concept of a regional approach. Trolleys...what a dick...let's tear up streets that already need repaired and put trolley tracks in instead of elevated lite rail in the city, and lay track to the burbs.

If I could catch a train to work, I would. If I could catch a train to go out at night, I would.

[TrogL]

3. There are wheeled trolleys

The City of Edmonton is in the process of deciding whether to replace them with a more up-to-date version or replace the entire system with diesel hybrids.

http://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_0_279_218_0_43/http%3B/CMSServer/COEWeb/getting+around/ets+in+the+community/ets+and+the+environment/ETS+Trolleys.htm

[mtnester]

4. I hear ya...they are glorified busses

in a sense. That is available in that county. We need something better that moves more people greater distances, not just from downtown Columbus to campus (maybe 15 blocks?)

Sigh...regular people could get together and plan/get things moving before politicians get out of bed.

[galledgoblin]

9. electric trolleys would be great

but yeah, you need a REGIONAL approach, not just throwing down a handful of lines through a downtown, and I wouldn't attempt to put a rail system in until a solid bus mass transit system has found the right routes to use.

[Carnea]

17. Buses are much better than trollies. NT

[krkaufman]

6. That's been my thought ...

... that mass transit is funded at a starvation level, barely enough to keep it running, but never at a level that would make it truly attractive.

[intheflow]

11. They probably can't afford to get more buses

between the lack of federal public transit funds and soaring gas prices. The inevitable conclusion to 30 years of tax cuts. :(

[Carnea]

16. They can if they charge something resembling the cost.

They are in a mass transit bull market and yet still act if its only for the impoverished, the blind, and the drunk drivers.

[KamaAina]

14. You're hardly alone. Columbia, SC is in a similar predicament.

The state capital AND seat of the University of South Carolina.

Apparently it's all up to a ballot initiative this fall:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=177&topic_id=1420&mesg_id=1420

edit: header

[tandot]

5. I am riding the Amtrak to work for 2 years now and it has recently become difficult to find a seat

The bad thing is that they can't just add another car. They have to first get approval from the California Transportation Commission to allocate funding through a voter-approved transportation bond. It will take month, if not years to do that.

[Carnea]

7. The problem is they don't charge enough.

I'm not saying mass transit should be a cash cow but you have a mass transit bull market right now. Increase fares and increase times and routes. Encourage people to use it by making it more useful.

And yes you can continue to subsidize certain riders but honestly there are bus lines charging less than $5 for a daily pass.

[gristy]

10. I agree. Buy and add more cars. Charge more if you can.

Free market and all that. But to the benefit of everyone.

[Luminous Animal]

12. Screw that.

Individual drivers are subsidized 55%-45% of what it actually costs to maintain the infrastructure to accommodate them. Make driving a car a pay as you go system (similar to Europe), and you free up plenty of transportation dollars to expand mass transportation which is, mile for mile, a far more economical system.

[Carnea]

15. What your referring to is road maintenance which you would still need

with mass transit. Hello buses.

What needs to be done is two things.

First raise the local gas tax a dollar to two dollars and put that money directly into new buses and new routes and longer hours.

And then. Raise the damn bus fares. Nobody should be paying less than $5 a day to ride the bus in todays economy unless they are already on public assistance.

[galledgoblin]

8. McCain would like to see Amtrak axed

Obama should step forward and offer a national program to reinvest in local mass transit as well as completely revive Amtrak.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. As my sig line suggests, four days of the Iraq War are financially equivalent

to Amtrak's current annual subsidy.

An entire line in a light rail system can be built with two to three days of Iraq War funds.

Imagine what we could have done with five-and-a-half years (2,007 days) of Iraq War funds. For one thing, these kinds of rail and transit projects would have created millions of well-paying blue collar jobs for both construction and operation of the systems.