Bay Area transit up for unprecedented overhaul ( San Francisco )

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | April 16, 2010 | Nathanael Johnson

[george76]

The 2009 annual report from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is a bombshell, a wake up call, a Klaxon - choose whatever metaphor you like - if you care about public transit ...

It shows, more clearly than any of the reports of budget woes coming from the individual transit agencies, that the entire system is unsustainable. Think the fare hikes and service cuts are bad now? Just wait.

"Looking at it another way, we will fall short of the resources our regional transit system needs by a cool $1 billion a year over the next quarter-century."

Translation: If you are a highly-paid administrator in a Bay Area transit agency, it's time to start polishing your resume.

[GonzoGOP]

(1)Disband the Unions
(2)Cut the pay rates and benefits down to something reasonable.
(3)Evaluate the various lines. If the cost of adding highway lanes and parking structures is less than the cost of operating the line shut it down.
(4)Put any money that is available into those lines that make the most difference. With a smaller number of lines you can patrol them to make the service clean and safe. You can provide good service because on the high traffic lines you can come closer to breaking even than on the low traffic lines.

However since there is no way that a union controlled bureaucracy will do any of these things they should just shut it down and be done with it.

[BfloGuy]

operating costs would exceed revenues by $8 billion over the next 25 years, while planned improvements (like new buses, and the Warm Springs BART station) will require someone to dig up an additional $17 billion

Lavish public transit systems are a capital-consuming, economic black hole.

[ltc8k6]

Don’t worry, they will make a profit with high speed rail...

[drubyfive]

I rode BART to the ballpark three times last week. There were very few empty seats. Also took the transbay bus this morning to the drupalcon conference at Moscone. Every seat filled.

[American in Singapore]

Reading the comments section of the article is a hoot. Some of the natives are getting restless and then there are some real gems like:
“
The solution is obvious.
Just put a tax on fuel equal to every dime spent in the M.E. as well as every penny spent on the Navy maintaining control over the sea lanes for oil delivery.
That 350 billion per year will make private autos useless piles of junk without increasing our actual costs, given that OIL is being subsidized with tax money to that point.
Thus, endless supplies of money for mass transit will be available, since there won’t be an alternative.
Sound harsh?
Still a good idea. Let the profiteers pay the costs, and we’ll all act with more wisdom.
“

Hilarious!

[Persevero]

“the entire service is unsustainable.”

Yes, that IS the problem with socialism. Eventually you run out of other people’s money. Instead, they use confiscated money from non-participant taxpayers to prop things up.

If riders of the transit actually had to pay for the cost of running the system(s), things would be different.

For many, it would not be worth it. Those lines/systems would die off. Because they are not worth it.

For a few, perhaps it would still be worth it. Those systems would thrive, and probably be a lot more responsive to the riders.

Well, a FReeper can dream.

[muleskinner]

BART is controlled by another of those unions which annually holds commuters hostage with a strike and gets a fat raise and better retirement. The trains are supposed to be run by computer, so the drivers can snooze 90% of the time. The only others I've seen at the stations are ticket takers - another gang of useless lumps.