Posted on 11/22/2022 11:03:05 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
SAN FRANCISCO - The Bay Area’s largest transit agency is considering drastic measures to replace its funding model — such as cutting weekend service — as it attempts to resolve the financial instability spurred by the pandemic.
BART is looking ahead to 2025, when the agency is expected to fully exhaust the $1.6 billion in federal assistance it received to remain afloat during the pandemic. The funding model for BART before the pandemic relied mostly on farebox recovery, which amounted to about 70% of its overall funding.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the agency responsible for regional transportation planning and financing, ordered BART and the other regional transit agencies to prepare a five-year transit plan.
MTC asked the agencies to create three scenarios for the near future: what would happen if ridership returned to its pre-pandemic levels, what would happen if there was “some progress” for ridership, and what would happen if ridership remained stagnant and the federal funds run out.
The worst-case scenario describes a future where BART needs to close a $233 million average annual gap.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Be careful, Spencer Elden, who appeared on the cover of the Nirvana Album naked as a baby, is always looking to sue somebody because of it. His latest lawsuit for ‘damages’ was dismissed January of this year by a New York judge.
Yep, as soon as the Merced to Bakersfield section is completed, the money will start rolling in!
I loved making friends feel old by telling them “Do you remember the baby from the Nirvana album? He’s old enough to drink now.”
The BART is very much like the DC area subway, except that it lacks ridership.
That was true well over a decade ago.
The SF Muni subway had much higher ridership as I remember.
The firebox has never covered the expenses of mass transit. In the best of times, fares paid by riders covered less than one-third of expenses for BART, MUNI, and other public transit in the SF Bay Area. The rest of the funding comes from taxpayers at local, state and federal levels. It's always been a losing game for mass public transit. The powers-that-be want to force people to give up private ownership of cars in order to force them to pay for public transit. Not that public transit will get any better; it won't.
The San Diego light rail system had good ridership when I was last in California about 12 years ago.
Perhaps the Phoenix heat is too much or the Phoenix area is spread out too much for light rail.
The commuting distances in California are often huge.
Given 50 minutes one way in a car or 75 minutes by public transit, the car wins big time.
BART in the SF Bay Area and the DC area subway used the same contractors to build the trains. The trains were built at the same time and were identical. I've ridden both. Both have identical types of riders in some areas of transit that make you wish you hadn't gotten on the train.
The exception is transit close to the urban centers. Because of traffic jams and lack of parking, it's quicker and easier to take BART into downtown centers. Hwys 101 and 280 are often jammed into SF, same is true of Hwy 880 near Oakland. However, if your destination is not near the downtown subway stations then a lot of time is wasted traversing the city to get to your destination - that's when we use the car and battle the traffic jams.
We've pretty much given up on using BART due to the filthy conditions. We won't sit on the seats because of the vagrants who might be leaving filth and fleas. My wife always immediately washes her clothes after using BART or MUNI.
In Seattle the felt it wasn’t equitable to make people pay. So they stopped enforcing this....now most ride for free and they are broke too.
Just park them and house the homeless in them ... solves two problems at once. All the SF’s can just drive their EVs to work and play.
That’s the way to do it...cut service and raise fares!
It’s how socialists run a railroad, or anything else.
banning gas cars should help
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