Posted on 03/07/2022 5:25:42 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Public transit systems straining to win back riders after being crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic are getting a $3.7 billion boost to stay afloat and invest in new fleets of electric buses.
With mask restrictions fading and workers beginning to return to offices, the Biden administration said Monday it was awarding $2.2 billion in coronavirus relief funding to 35 financially strapped transit agencies in 18 states. The money would be used to prop up day-to-day operations, including staffing and payroll as well as cleaning and sanitization to limit the spread of illness in public transportation. A federal mask mandate for public transit remains in effect until at least March 18.
Another $1.5 billion in grants will be available under President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law — a total of $7.5 billion over five years — for transit agencies to purchase low- or no-emission buses and build bus facilities. That’s more than double the combined amount from the previous year.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
In Phoenix, they spend like a billion or two on “light train”.
It became a mobile homeless shelter. It is quite dangerous to use it!
Which enumerated power allows this?
You know this will be spent wisely. Perhaps cities will use it to put up barricades, so white passengers aren’t thrown onto the tracks.
Gee what about the NYC subway? Do they get more funding to protect their riders from being seriously injured or killed by the homeless/criminals? After all it’s for the children......
This is the biggest obstacle facing public transportation, too many violent crazies on the trains and buses.
What to do with all the electric busses sitting in storage lots from prior mass transit grants? They are broken down and unusable after 1 year. The cities have to keep them on the books so they just sit and rot.
No one likes rubbing elbows with the great unwashed. Until the problems of urban crime and substance abusing/mentally ill homeless are addressed, people who can afford it will not ride public transit in great numbers.
No need to transition away from crude-oil based transportation fuels! All the most wonderful people in the world have lots of crude: Saudis, Iranians, Russians, Nigerians, Texans.
Summary: $3.7 billion to be flushed into the liberal toilet.
Everything liberals touch turns to s**t, so why not shorten the process?
And further - personal example.
In the last 10 days I’ve been downtown twice for events.
There is a train station just a few miles from my house with plenty of free parking.
It’s a straight shot to another station an easy walk to the major venue.
I didn’t consider it, gladly bore the expense of driving (about 20 miles one way) and parking ($15).
And part of the problem is the kabuki security at the venue. If I can’t carry on the train, I am not riding the train.
Keep on printing!
We have old photos of an aunt, riding the NY City subway in the early 1950s. She took it daily, from her home in the upper East Side of NY, down to Wall Street, where she worked as a legal secretary. She was dressed like Grace Kelly - pillbox hat, long gloves, etc...
Public mass transport is one of those things which only works and is efficient for a very civilized society.
LOL. Good one.
The elites never use public transit of any kind.
Perhaps they should set an example.
But we know that will never happen.
Right!!!
Everyone is just straining at the bit to get into an enclosed tube/car with NO avenue of escape from the crazies.
...and "urban planners" absolutely refuse to address this. They would more aptly be titled Urban Pretenders.
Outrageous.
“Public transit” ridership is not coming back to pre-pandemic levels. Now is the time for “public transit” to trim down and slim down to the bare point that fares will pay for its operations. Then the operations will at least be breaking even. Then there is a chance they can be sold, to become private enterprises, that private companies can invest in and improve, as markets, not politicians, dictate.
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