Posted on 03/04/2015 5:29:27 AM PST by TurboZamboni
New numbers show that Northstar Commuter Rail Line ridership is down and, after five years of operation, an important goal has not yet been met.
Metro Transit numbers show ridership in 2014 was down 8 percent for weekday rides.
In 2008, Metro Transit had a goal of removing 5,000 cars from the road by encouraging commuting on Northstar. However, only about 2,500 commuters ride during the week, which is well below the goal set seven years ago.
Taxpayers paid $315 million to build the Northstar system. Approximately $15 million each of the five years it's been running for operations and maintenance. It has cost nearly $15 million per year during the five years it’s been running to operate and maintain.
The Northstar Commuter Rail Line offers service between Big Lake and Target Field stations in downtown Minneapolis.
Who wants to ride trains with jihadis?
I prefer to ride in my car where I can pack my SIG P229 in 40.
It’s not a boondoggle. It’s exactly what it was meant to be. A payoff to local union bosses. Here in CT they’re building a friggin busway for $60 MILLION dollars a mile. All to keep union goons happy.
Ogdenville, Brockway, North Haverbrook.
Commuters decide the only way they like so-called “mass transit” is if there is absolutely no other affordable alternative.
Who wants to spend time crammed into a tight space with a bunch of losers who cannot afford anything better?
Surprise, surprise...
Commuter rail systems that generate enough revenue to cover their construction costs and operating expenses are like the moderate muslim and the centrist democrat.
We are told they exist but no one has ever actually seen one.
How could they? This is all written in English.
“Rail proponents have blamed the poor ridership on just about everything as they attempt to justify operation of commuter rail, which continues to cost taxpayers nearly $1 million in ridership subsidies every month.”
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/173964061.html
“It’s not a boondoggle. It’s exactly what it was meant to be. A payoff to local union bosses. Here in CT they’re building a friggin busway for $60 MILLION dollars a mile. All to keep union goons happy.”
We have a light rail extension going in here in CO. $100 million a mile. Light rail operating revenue in 2013, $19 million. Light rail operating expenses in 2013, $180 million. And we’re rated one of the very best transit systems in the country.
How’s that for sustainable transit?
It wasn't a monorail.
With another boondoggle in the works.
Minneapolis calls for rethinking of Olson Hwy. to ensure LRT success. Mpls. officials say light-rail expansion offers opportunity
http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/294929401.html
Yeah, when it comes to govt spending money they don’t even consider cost. Just spend.
A “pedestrian friendly” freeway... also known as ....a “sidewalk”.
Taxpayers were told that Northstar would remove 5,000 cars from the road, creating a “lane and a half” of traffic. Only about 2,500 souls ride the train each week, well below promised numbers.
The simple truth is that Northstar rail is a failed mega-project. It isn’t struggling. It isn’t in down period. It isn’t in need of an extension to Saint Cloud, more stations, more stops, or more service.
It is a failed project that should never have been built and doesn’t need any more subsidies or additional taxpayer funds.
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