Posted on 11/12/2010 5:39:56 AM PST by WOBBLY BOB
As the Northstar Commuter Rail line nears its first birthday, ridership has fallen below expectations.
A week after it was announced that plans to expand the rail line to St. Cloud have been shelved, officials released numbers showing ridership is about 5 percent below projections. Officials blame the economy and expect the gap to widen.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
So you thought you were done paying for that expensive $317 million train that provides nothing more than an expensive, heavily subsidized ride for a few commuters who want to live in the exurbs and work in Minneapolis?
Guess again. In addition to the $317 million cost to build the rail line, there are the millions in operating subsidies required to keep the train running. After all, we can't expect those who use the train to actually pay their way. Not even close.
If you live in Anoka County, you get to pay operating subsidies through the additional sales tax we pay in the Metro that was instituted over Governor Pawlenty's veto thanks to Jim Abeler and Kathy Tingelstad.
In a brazen case of copycat taxation, Sherburne County is now looking for authorization from the legislature to institute a local sales tax in that county to help pay for its share of the Northstar operating subsidy.
According to the Saint Cloud Times,Sherburne County would like to institute the same sales tax rate as was passed for Anoka County and the Metro area.
Assistant county administrator Luci Botzek was quoted as saying their
county was "left out" of the tax increase for the Metro and wants to be "treated the same way." Translated, this means "We want to tax the crap out of our citizens during a recession in the same way Anoka County abuses their taxpayers."
Hey, Luci. Anoka County isn't a unit of government you want to emulate if you at all give a rip about the people you represent.
It appears they don't give a rip at all. The article indicates that the county has no plans to let taxpayers vote on the sales tax increase if they get legislative approval. That's because they know what the outcome would be.
And don't forget this little fact about Northstar rail. It costs $16.8 million to operate Northstar each year. Riders contribute only $3.1 million of that cost, making for a farebox recovery of under 20%.
What a deal.
(fromThe Anoka County Watchdog-3/8/10)
I’ll guess that these all-seeing, all-knowing officials haven’t considered lowering fares.
ping!
Yup, we all knew the coo coo would cost us millions. But it was shoved down our throat anyways.
This reminds me of the Las Vegas monorail. I don’t live in Las Vegas, but based on news stories I’ve read, and the fact that when I go there the cars are almost always three-fourths empty, they’re not getting very much in the way of custom. My advice to them and these people is to reduce their damned high fares. Somehow it never occurs to them that by reducing fares they’ll increase ridership.
Passenger trains have a minimum loading target they have to
hit to be “fuel efficient”. If the trains are only running
at 20% capacity, the people that are driving to work are the ones that are being “green”.
Not that I disagree with this editorial, but it is quoting yearly figures after one-third of its first year of operation. I heard an interview yesterday, with an MTC flak, in which he was saying that ridership in the first year is about 15-20% below projection, but average fare intake was higher than predicted, so they were actually operating in the black. Of course, he was never asked if all of that $16.8mil was fares or if it included subsidies!
What a deal.
Wonder what Willie Greene has to say about this latest and greatest deal?
It turns out that there are nearly as many people taking the train to see a game as there are taking the train into Minneapolis for work each day.
Take this past July, for example. That month, the average daily commuter ridership was 2,530. On a Saturday when the Twins were playing at home, average leisure ridership was 2,373.
So, there nearly as many people taking the train to catch a game as there are taking the train to work on a weekday.
Remember when the $317 million train was sold to the taxpayers as a transportation option for commuters? It turns out that an argument can be made that Northstar is little more than a taxpayer-subsidized tool catering to baseball fans looking for a ride to a taxpayer-subsidized baseball yard.
Evidence of Northstar’s underperformance is especially critical on two fronts.
For one, the limited ridership is proving the claims of critics like the Anoka County Watchdog that predicted the train would prove to be a financial white elephant demanding massive, long-term taxpayer subsidies.
Those fears have proven correct, based upon subsidy data collected by our good friends over at the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota.
http://freedomfoundationofminnesota.com/northstar-running-an-operating-deficit-of-more-than-1-million-a-month
According to these statistics, Northstar commuter rail is suffering an operating deficit of over $1 million per month!
Perhaps the most shocking and disappointing statistic is that taxpayers subsidize a whopping 83% of the cost of every Northstar ride, while the rider only covers 17% (called the “fare box recovery”).
It breaks down like this:
Each one-way trip costs on average $22.37
Each rider pays an average one-way trip cost of $3.74
The taxpayers pony up the difference for each and every trip.
Through July 31st, taxpayers have subsidized Northstar’s operations to the tune of over $7.5 million!
Perhaps this is why, as reported in the Watchdog recently, the Anoka County Regional Rail Authority is proposing to raise its property tax levy a whopping 45% next year.
http://www.anokacountywatchdog.com/email/2010/08.30.10_update.htm
It is critical that all understand that one of the reasons Anoka County is raising the levy is to provide capital and funds to pursue not only an EXPANSION of Northstar rail but also a brand new commuter train line to Duluth, called Northern Lights Express.
Despite irrefutable evidence of missed ridership projections and massive subsidies, Anoka County commissioners are doubling down on commuter rail with billions of your tax dollars riding on the bet.
That we just don’t understand...
“As the Northstar Commuter Rail line nears its first birthday, ridership has fallen below expectations.”
WOW! Never saw that one coming.
BOHICA
Thanks.
BOHICA indeed.
As it is, it doesn't go anywhere near where I work.
Still wouldn't mind finding a high-end Net Admin job in, or around, Monticello.
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