Posted on 12/27/2020 3:50:10 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit some public transit systems hard.
Passenger numbers on New York’s MTA and London’s Underground metro system initially crashed by around 95 percent, and have since recovered to only about one-third of last year’s levels. And while those numbers have rebounded, passenger numbers are likely to be lower in the near-to-medium term.
But that's not what has experts worried. With cities around the world facing financial problems because of the economic impact of the pandemic, governments may look to cut funding since ridership is down. That can create what some have dubbed a “death spiral” — a cycle of poorer services and even fewer riders.
“I have absolutely no doubt in saying that demand will be lower than it was pre-Covid," said Greg Marsden, professor of transport governance at the University of Leeds in Britain. "It will be lower because we're entering a massive recession and because people have adapted their behaviors."
“What really matters is how we manage the transition," he added. "If we get this wrong, then it’s very hard to bring public transport services back once they’ve disappeared.”
“As we move into the 2021, 2022 timeframe, where governments are going to have less money and start to question their priorities on public spending, that's where the danger zone lies,” said Richard Anderson, co-director of Imperial College London’s Transport Strategy Centre.
Public transportation is rarely profitable but is essential to the success of major cities, Anderson said, comparing slashing government transport spending to “killing the golden goose.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Public transit systems already get like 80+% of their funding from .gov anyway.
What’s another 20%?
Cities. LOL
In my city, regular transit was only 50% subsidized, 50% from fares. Handicapped services were 90% subsidized. Since the pandemic, way lower passengers, hence higher subsidies.
“Public transportation is rarely profitable but is essential to the success of major cities, Anderson said, comparing slashing government transport spending to “killing the golden goose.”
The golden goose is dead and liberal shithole cities with it.
Everyone in the burbs and the country are tired of paying for pubic transportation that they haven’t ever used, and have no intention ever starting.
With the advent of 5G and telecommunications, cities are becoming obsolete. Wall street can become a computer bank somewhere in Florida or Texas, as an example.
That’s the 49th Street station at 7th Ave. ironically that’s where I used to get off for work at a previous place of employment. It was never that dead even on the quietest days.
“With the advent of 5G and telecommunications, cities are becoming obsolete.”
Cities will always be around, hookers need sidewalks to survive./sarc
Here in the DC area they whine about how Metro doesn't get "dedicated" funding from the federal government. But they got a giant bailout last spring to keep running. More importantly the federal government pays for transit for all federal workers. Not only that, but the subsidy is far more than most workers use in a month, so they get to spend the rest on leisure rides or sell the credits on the black market.
“Passenger numbers on New York’s MTA and London’s Underground metro system initially crashed by around 95 percent, and have since recovered to only about one-third of last year’s levels.” Why would this happen in New York? Didn’t the governor or the mayor tell people early on that it was safe to ride the subway? ;)
Oh boo hoo. The government put tens of thousands of small businesses out of business. Cry me a river.
I think one of the reasons the roads in rural KY are so nice is that more of our gas taxes go to the roads, rather than ferries, trains, etc. You can rollerblade on some of these roads, and partly because there is no traffic.
The book, Your Next 50 Years, written around 1980, actually predicted this. He called the new mini-cities “micropolis”. And he predicted the cell phone as well.
WFH is here to stay. It changes everything. It just never dawned on me that something like this stupid lockdown would be what drove it over the line into critical mass.
Office space in the cities will be converted to condos. Most of it will, anyway. We’re not going back.
This is bad news for subway muggers.
I have always wondered why mass transportation was so important when computers enable us to “meet’ via video for business or personal reasons. Immigration is another phenomenon that can be restricted, as some jobs can be done via computer.
The covid mortality rate is .23......POINT TWO THREE.
“We’re not going back.”
My youngest brother lives in NJ and works in midtown Manhattan. Or he did until the pandemic anyway. He runs a department of 20 people who used to spend 2 hours commuting each way. They’ve all been WFH since March and love it.
They’ve all saved thousands of dollars and weeks of time not fighting their way in and out of NYC every day. He took an informal survey of his crew and not one of them wants to go back to doing things as before.
Productivity is up, absenteeism is down, so when his boss mentioned getting back to “normal” my brother essentially told him to “KMA. Ain’t happening.”
Which is kind of a pickle for the company since they signed a 3 year lease for horrendously expensive office space which now sits empty. Lots of that is going around.
I spoke to him on Christmas Day and he is pretty adamant. He is NOT going back to business as usual and neither will nearly all of his crew.
L
More than wuflu....
Robotaxis.
Telecommuting.
The Boring Company.
Starlink internet.
Subways will cease and the tunnels will be used for robotaxis.
The carless urbanites will move to the suburbs and use robotaxis.
The urban underclass will move to the suburbs and get free use of robotaxis.
The upper middle class and above will move to the country and use satellite Internet to telecommute.
etc. etc. etc.
bump
The argument for public transportation is that it permits higher population density and thereby counters urban sprawl, reduces road use, and offers transportation to low paid service workers and those who do not drive. And, by the way, urban residents hate paying for country roads they rarely if ever use.
The Death Spiral is now a Rocket Sled on Rails thanks to Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo.
Their COVID response has lubed the rails with super slick grease.
Work from home will become permanent now that employers have learned that they can cut the need to rent office space that their employees can get for free at home.
Fewer people traveling to the cities to work, fewer people eating in the city because they stayed home.
People working from home won’t be paying income taxes to the city, people won’t be buying things in the city so no sales taxes will they pay in the city.
Some of the big earners kept apartments in the city so they wouldn’t have to commute during the week. Rents will be dropping when these apartments become available.
Property values will be falling in the city because of the excess of office space and apartments, which equals lower property tax revenues to the state and city governments.
The mayor and governor started to kill restaurants in the city by limiting seating or forcing them to close but driving people out of the city surely isn’t helping.
These New World Socialist wanted to force us all to live in cities to minimize human impact on the environment but their COVID dictatorships are driving everyone out of the cities. And as the article says they are killing public transportation in the process and public transportation is another of those keystones of the Green Edifice they put on their Green Plan to save the environment.
Nice work you idiots.
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