Posted on 09/01/2018 11:33:14 AM PDT by Publius
One hundred years ago, the United States had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Today, outside a few major urban centers, it is barely on life support. Even in New York City, subway ridership is well below its 1946 peak. Annual per capita transit trips in the US plummeted from 115.8 in 1950 to 36.1 in 1970, where they have roughly remained since, even as population has grown.
This has not happened in much of the rest of the world. While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th Century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not. At the turn of the 20th Century, when transit companies’ only competition were the legs of a person or a horse, they worked reasonably well, even if they faced challenges. Once cars arrived, nearly every US transit agency slashed service to cut costs, instead of improving service to stay competitive. This drove even more riders away, producing a vicious cycle that led to the point where today, few Americans with a viable alternative ride buses or trains.
(Excerpt) Read more at citylab.com ...
It could be that's a very specialized niche. You won't have people going to ordinary jobs on such buses and it does depend on having the same destination and more or less the same starting points.
But private shuttles do get people out of their own cars, and given all the talk about the decline of community in modern America, it may not be a bad thing for people who work together to live in the same neighborhood and go to work together every day.
Or does that sound too much like a cult?
It is no mystery why transit is weak is the US. If you go to other countries which have well developed public transit systems you will see that a large percentage of their riders are students. But here the government picks the students up and delivers them to and from school. Thus we have taken away a segment of public transits customers. Cities which began to grow AFTER we required school busing tend to have underdeveloped public transit systems. Not enough customers.
Or does that sound too much like a cult?
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You said it. A liberal cult ...
100 years ago people could usually ride transit without fear of assault by smelly beggars , robbers, mental defectives, or the outright insane. Also, there usually wasn’t any sheit on the floor, nor used drug needles secreted in the seats.
Only the crazy people ride the bus...that was the saying in Seattle when I lived there.
Yup, that's one reason. But the other is the astronomical tax they place on gasoline & diesel that makes it cost 3 or 4 or more times what it costs in mid-America. Up to 90% of the price at their pumps is Big Govt taxes.
So for the middle & lower classes, the inconvenience of using public transportation is usually outweighed by what they'd pay thru the nose to drive their own cars.
Another bonus - as far as their upper classes are concerned - is that with fewer cars driven by the unwashed masses around, it frees up the roads for the chauffeured cars of the wealthy Euro Elites.
Here at home, around 30 yrs ago in my city, someone ratted out a meeting of City Elites, where a panel appointed by our then-100%-liberal City Council was discussing synchronizing traffic signals with much-better available technology to make traffic run smoother. But their consensus was that they didn't WANT to do that, because fewer traffic problems would naturally lessen demand by voters for public transportation. The sycophantic local paper didn't investigate it, as I recall. Rather, some letters to the editor is how we found out.
On a larger scale, our Dem-dominated State House won't free up Fed highway funds that have been available to us for many years, to widen the worst-clogged interstates, because they WANT drivers to get more & more frustrated, in the hopes of channeling that anger into a demand for public transit.
Cars just give people far too much more independence & freedom than they deserve, dammit! How can you control the masses if you can't control their movements, huh? Can you tell me that?
Ve must haff order! None of zis chaos, of effryone going vere-ever und ven-ever it pleases zem!
...nor for getting where you want to go, when you want to go there, and getting you 15 miles in under three hours.
No mention, anywhere in the thread, of Uber - let alone the self-driving car.
Why should we favor public transit over other forms of transportation?
If you look at the US transit system as a whole, it is staggering in its size, reach, scope and economics. It should be praised and admired.
Cool.
Powder River Coal is a YUGE thing.
16 years old.
We could use an update.
Fun history, but it VASTLY understates the negative economics.
“Services drive demand”... sure, but those services have to be paid for. And they never are. The author wants the feds to pay for service (operations and maintenance etc). Better uses for that money.
America killed Transit in 1887 when it created the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Yeah, it’s old, but still makes the point, I think. Our overall transportation system is phenomenal and public transit is a pimple on it.
It’s an awesome graphic.
A video of year by year would be good to see what is changing.
They could add pipelines...
American crime caused the lack of public transportation. Most would rather drive than get mugged.
A good public transit system would be great in the urban and surrounding areas. But out here in wide-open Texas the ROI would be too little. A good F-150, a full tank of gas, and a decent road is all you need to drive into town for shopping, dinner, or the Friday night football game. If you have animals (not the support kind), you may need a hitch and a trailer from time to time.
The stage coaches and horse and buggies went out centuries ago. Many railroads have shut down due to lack of business or public interest (Remember in Texas you ain’t a town unless you have a Dairy Queen, railroads don’t count anymore). Even the bus lines who stopped at every drug store in every podunk town and hole in the road along their route to deliver mail and pickup packages and a few desperate passengers have had watch their costs and make some adjustments to stay in business. Factor in the oil patch boom and bust cycles which frequently occur, and transportation can get pretty dicey at times.
But the 18 wheelers are still gettin’ it done. Grandma can still hitch a ride to LA or Chicago if she knows the right people or diner (Dairy Queen) to look for these opportunities.
Amtrak, you can forget it because it never runs on schedule and you still have to get to the train station to catch the next train or wait two days for Grandma to arrive from LA or Chicago.
Need a taxi or Uber service you’ve got to be kidding...
So if you’re moving to Texas, plan ahead according to your location and transportation needs. Check out the the Internet access and snake mail delivery in your area too. And find out if electricity and water is available too. Texas can be heaven or hell. Wouldn’t want you to experience any surprises when you get here.
/s
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