Posted on 06/09/2010 8:44:10 AM PDT by B4Ranch
After enduring the most brutal year in the history of Bay Area public transit, train and bus operators are barreling down a track toward bankruptcy.
The near-inevitable result will be costlier and longer commutes for all, whether they ride or drive.
From BART to Caltrain to the Valley Transportation Authority, every Bay Area transit agency has increased fares and reduced train and bus service to plug deep budget holes. But the changes have produced fewer riders and even less revenue — leading some to worry that the transit system has entered a death spiral.
Already, more than a million riders are spending extra money and time each day just to get around. And a staggering 66,000 daily riders have abandoned Bay Area transit in the past year — twice the number of drivers that go through the Dumbarton Bridge toll plaza every day.
Six major agencies — BART, VTA, Caltrain, SamTrans on the Peninsula, County Connection in the East Bay and Golden Gate Transit — have lost at least 7 percent of their riders in the last year. Some officials fear they'll never get them back.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Your cure for this is what? High speed rail?
But...but...less riders means less crowding between you and the street gang, or the vomiting bum..
Public Transportation is to transportation what Public housing is to private homes.
Wow I thought this was the future of America, green jobs, high speed rail.
How can this be happening?
I know, we need Cap N Tax to get us $5/gal gasoline.
That will help.
I always wondered what "Fresno Area Rapid Transit" would have been called...
Crazy Californians....
The impact
66,000: Daily riders who have abandoned Bay Area transit in the past year
$8.5 billion: Bay Area transit agencies” projected cumulative budget shortfall in 25 years
$520: Increased annual cost of commuting by transit rather than driving, compared with June 2008
Well, when you drive out jobs, you drive out people.
Source: http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-07-03/bay-area/17383357_1_bart-workers-station-agents-amalgamated-transit-union
High-speed pitbulls running on rails, LOL.
You got up before I did.
First the unions have to go.
Trim management and administrative numbers and all workers salaries and ridiculous promotions slashed.
Schedule transportations where and when it is most need and wanted.
Behavior codes enforced through quick arrests for signs of intimidation,alcohol consumption,defacing property,etc.
All grafiit quickly painted over or scrubbed away.
Train cars and buses kept clean.
In short run it like the Singapore government would.
The key question may be how many of those employees actually work. My bet is that the payroll is probably bloated with people like the UAW's job banks.
One vital question is how many of those employees are truly required to do the work involved. But look at the size of the benefits package - much of it goes to pensions whose obligations exceed their income.
OBAMA.
if they want to call that a social service, they should call it that and pay for it from social service monies...but its destroying transportation budgets....
we try to do too much in this country and wonder why our local and state and federal govts are bankrupt....
Of course the avg salary of a transit worker being around $100K w/benies has nothing to do w/this.
Pray for America
Your cure for this is what? High speed rail?
Well if raising fares and cutting service is reducing ridership and creating highway congestion that the roads can't handle, then it is pretty obvious that they should do the exact opposite: lower transit fares and increase frequency of service. And increase the highway tolls instead!
That'll clear the highway congestion and boost rail ridership and profitability at the same time.
BTW... You're Welcome!!!
>>The agency's financial hole has only deepened since it recently phased out 100 jobs, hiked fares more than 6 percent, upped parking rates, and started running three trains an hour instead of four on weeknights and weekends. BART has lost $32 million in sales tax revenue in the past 12 months, and it has seen $129 million in state subsidies disappear in the last three years.
Do you have another solution? The problems of rising costs, vanishing state subsidies and declining tax revenues are shared by all 28 of the area's transit agencies. Without fundamental changes, these Bay Area transit agencies project a cumulative budget shortfall in 25 years of $8.5 billion, and a capital projects deficit of $17.2 billion. <<
every Bay Area transit agency has increased fares and reduced train and bus service to plug deep budget holes. But the changes have produced fewer riders and even less revenue — leading some to worry that the transit system has entered a death spiral.
Duh.
Public Transportation is to transportation what Public housing is to private homes.
But but but I thought they tore down all the “Public Housing” since it ALL had become unlivable.
Thanks Lyndon Johnson and Carter and Clinton !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sure, hell, pay each one of them $100,000 a year
so you and I can ride on the train next to the barfing homeless dude
or down the car from the 8 gang members eyeing you with beady eyes.
Isn’t life great under Communism?
Doncha remember hearing ALL the time in school “The Moscow subway station have chandeliers in them!!!”
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