Employment Up, Transit Ridership Down
Transit ridership has fallen in 2009, which the American Public Transportation Association blames mainly on the recession. But in Washington, DC, where the economy is doing well thanks to the growth of big government, ridership has fallen by 3 percent, leading to serious financial problems for Washington Metro.
Yet the financial problems described in the above article barely scratch the surface. As the FTA noted in a report last spring, Washington Metro and rail transit agencies in five other cities — New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco — collectively have a $50 billion maintenance backlog. At current rates of spending on maintenance, says the report, these rail systems will continue to deteriorate. This explains situations like trains catching on fire.
posted in News commentary, Transportation | 6 Comments
