Posted on 05/31/2010 2:55:32 PM PDT by narses
Because race drives much of the public transportation issue. Look at the drivers and ridership of DART, the officials, the safety issues (PERSONAL safety). There have been times where I’ve had to get off a railcar and move to another one because I didn’t feel safe
Wait until our Socialist Masters ban the Automobile - then UMT will make a profit - won't it?
“There is nothing “conservative” about a policy that ignores the basic needs of persons who have no other means of mobility than walking.”
How much should we spend on these folks?
Hey Dark Fired Tobacco, what have you to say?
perez24 wrote:
I commute to the greater DC metro area everyday. To take mass transit I’d have to:
1. Adjust my schedule because it doesn’t run as early as I leave.
2. Drive about 20 miles to the Metro Stop.
3. Park the car, which is either $4.75/day or $55/month if you can get a reserved spot.
4. Pay $4.10 to get one long bus ride from work. Total ride 45 minutes.
5. Ride the bus to work (this might be free or maybe a dollar or so). Total ride 20 minutes AFTER you get on the bus.
6. Ride the bus from work to bus station (maybe a dollar or so). Total ride 20 minutes AFTER you get on the bus.
7. Pay $4.10 to get to a station that is 20 miles from home.
Total ride 45 minutes.
8. Drive 20 miles home, which is the worst part of the commute in the afternoon.
Total time: At least 65 minutes not including driving to/from Metro stop and waiting for bus each way.
OR
I can drive to work. Leave when I want and get there in 45 minutes in the a.m. and get home in about an hour or so in the afternoon. Driving is faster and cheaper.
Jean Love and Wendell Cox are Illinois-based consultants who specialize in transportation, privatization, and the economics of the public sector.
The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Washington DC, was founded in 1977 by Edward Crane and Charles Koch, the billionaire co-owner of Koch Industries, the largest privately held oil company in the U.S.
It should be no surprise that Big Oil funds propaganda to keep America addicted to Oil.
An ad hominem attack, how original. Sadly nothing of substance though.
You realize that you are asking the opinion of a transportation engineer. It’s just not fair, like asking a car salesman, you decide should I buy the new Escalade or the used low mileage Civic?
I am unfair.
This study was published in October, 1991.
It’s almost 20 years out of date.
Much of it still rings true.
I wouldn’t expect a response. Mass transit advocates have a hard time dealing with real life examples unless the person is somehow disadvantaged.
I use Metro sometimes when I don’t want to drive in D.C. and it’s typically a clean, on-time ride. The fare maps also are very easy to read. It’s just too expensive and is getting more so. It’s also pretty unreliable when it’s really hot in the summer and all of the tourists visit, but that’s life.
I’ve used mass transit in other cities and while I did see old people hobbling into a seat and earnest commuters feeling good about themselves because they weren’t clogging up the street (until the bus stopped at some random corner), I also enjoyed the sight and smell of homeless people sitting in a pool of their own urine in the seats and the melodious rap music emanating from oversized boom boxes.
This study was published in October, 1991.
Yes, that was right after Poppy Bush started subsidizing OPEC Oil by booting Saddam out of Kuwait.
Of course Poppy didn't finish the job, and we've been stuck subsidizing Saudi and Kuwaiti peace and prosperity ever since.
But you can be sure that Cato and Cox won't factor those costs into their analysis. It might hurt the Oil Industry's bottom line.
How much should we spend on “these folks?” Gee, I didn’t know we had divided Americans into “these folks” and “folks like us.” I certainly don’t think we should spend any more on “these folks” than we have on “those folks” who choose to live 40 miles from work, then create congestion on old rural roads never intended for such traffic, then tie up freeways originally intended for intercity travel, then tie up valuable urban real estate in parking lots, all so they can live “in the country.” You do really want to know those numbers, do you?
Your class envy is showing.
What do I have so say to someone living a 45 minute commute from where they work? Two words: good luck.
You do realize, I trust, that the age of cheap energy is over. BP wasn’t drilling where they were because they liked the scenery. Yes, I know we have North Dakota and ANWR, and I support both of those. But with China growing like it is, and production dropping in Mexico, we are not going to see cheap oil again.
What does that mean? It means that people living 30, 40, or 50 miles away from their workplace will have to make a choice: move or cut back somewhere else to afford five dollar, eight dollar, and then 10 dollar a gallon gas. And I’m sure that everyone will support a hefty increase in the gas tax to support road maintenance and construction. I mean, that’s what the Cato Institute is saying, isn’t it? When oil prices go up, so does asphalt. And we haven’t raised the federal gas tax since 1996.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep driving to the nearest bus stop, at least as long as my fellow freepers will let me.
My class envy is showing? I would really like an explanation on that one, given that you don’t know anything about me. From what I can read on these comments, however, I don’t think I need to worry about “class.”
Read your first post.
Then read your post where you determine the purpose of country roads, highways, and the use of land that is now being used as parking lots.
I’m sure you think you’re being completely fact-based in your analyses...and maybe you are...it just comes across as whining.
I guess the bottom line is that your taxes are underwriting road construction for roads that you will never use...my taxes subsidize failed mass transit experiments. We both made our choices.
Sorry, I did come across rather hard-handed, and that was not my intent. I spent 25 years fielding questions from the public on transportation and municipal services. It seemed the biggest complaints were from the people who had moved out to the fringe of the urban area. They didn’t like the hog farm down the road. They said the winding country road they had to drive wasn’t safe. They didn’t have a park nearby. The roads were crowded. What they never seemed to understand was that their choices, and those of their neighbors, had created many of the very problems they were voicing.
By contrast, I rarely heard from the people in the core of the city. Maybe a pastor would advocate for something, or a local political leader might bring up a specific problem to me. I did an on-board survey for a local bus system and found 90 percent of the riders happy with the service. That service was hourly, weekdays only, and two dollars a ride. Several people said it was the only way they could get around on their own.
The truth is that our entire transportation system is and has always been subsidized. My concern is that we conservatives seem to be losing any understanding for people who are not as wealthy as we are, who may not have as much education, who may face addictions or mental illnesses not of their choosing, who are elderly or disabled, or for whatever other reason can’t compete in our car-based, go-go suburban life-style. As a Christian, I believe those people are my neighbors, too, and for that reason our transportation system should address the needs of everyone as economically and efficiently as possible.
I actually get sick of people moving to the country or a small-ish city (population 50k) like where I live, and then whining about hog farms and other smells of the country, deer crossing roads at inopportune times, the lack of parks, sidewalks, “decent” restaurants, etc. It’s as if they didn’t notice anything when they bought the house.
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