What I object to are the systems that can't pay for themselves and rely on heavy taxpayer subsidies to get by.
I would to take DA BUS from where I lived at Three Tables to my job as a dish washer ( one of those jobs that the rats say Americans wont do.) at Pat's at Punalu’u for a quarter each way.
I had a car but it was cheaper to take DA BUS.
That said I still drove to town (Honolulu) in my car when I
need to go there.
Even though the same quarter on the same bus I took to work would take me to town.
The reason is I wanted to go where I wanted to when I wanted to.
Makes sense if you live in London. Or maybe if you live in the North East Coast “metroplex.”
But not if you live 40 miles from the Atlanta suburbs and seven miles from the nearest grocery store.
I agree, so do I - which is like never. My new 'local line' built at great expense on an old freight line runs frequently, and empty most of the time. Why? Because it carefully avoids most shopping centers and other centers of activity along its route. One exception, a loop that goes to the local university, or at least to within 2 or 3 hundred yards - clever planning!
One end of this local line actually connects with the 'main line.' Where does that go? Well it certainly does not go anywhere near, or stop at any of the 4 airports - really good planning eh?
As I said, I use it when it makes sense for me.
P.S. Has anyone flown into Frankfort or Heathrow airports - those are examples of convenient mass transport connections.
Wasn’t there a time when “public” transportation was done by private companies?
What happened?
I’m for that being the case again.
Then you would just love it where I live. I live in a TN town of about 40,000 with a University. One of our tidbits from the stimulus package was grant money for a public transportation system. We were told how great it would be; students wouldn't have to walk a mile to shopping, the poor could get free rides to where they needed to go (there is already a service for that, but hey, its free, right?), etc. So now we have two (green energy burning) buses circling the city all day. riderless. We had a piece in the local rag recently praising the program because it's ridership had increased 50% in just a few months.
Problem is, the increase was from like 400 riders per month to 600. Wow. Ten riders per day, per bus. And not all even pay for it. I've heard that they are now secretly hiring college kids to ride the bus so it doesn't always appear empty. I was going to make it a project to get this program killed but I've learned that the department in charge is like the local mafia. You mess with them, and your utilities get accidentally cut off, that sort of thing.
“What I object to are the systems that can’t pay for themselves and rely on heavy taxpayer subsidies to get by.”
Oh. Like most public transit?