The Antiplanner

4th November 2009

Employment Up, Transit Ridership Down

posted in News commentary, Transportation |

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.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under News commentary, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 6 responses to “Employment Up, Transit Ridership Down”

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  1. 1 On November 4th, 2009, Dan said:

    One should also point out other maintenance backlogs, such as the $Trillion + on roads, and the Bay Bridge being down for a week as it continues to fall apart as it reaches the end of its life.

    That is: it’s not as if trains are the only issue here. One shouldn’t imply from Randal’s screed that there is only one problem. There are many problems and rail is only a part of it.

    DS

    posted on November 4th, 2009 at 6:16 am

  2. 2 On November 4th, 2009, blacquejacqueshellac said:

    Has the antiplanner ever said anything about bus service like that I have found in Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta?

    It seems to work well. The buses are cheap, crowded, will cheerfully stop anywhere for you and reputedly are privately owned. I was told that the only involvement of government is to set regular stop zones with drivers free to stop anywhere else if safe.

    Mexico being Mexico, it’s probably quite different and corrupt as hell, but it seems like a good idea. Buy a bus and drive around looking for passengers.

    Has this ever been tried in the first world? Or do we still consider that municipalities must have a monopoly on bus service? Has anyone ever sued a municipality for monopolistic transit practices?

    posted on November 4th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

  3. 3 On November 4th, 2009, bennett said:

    I’ve seen it done in rural areas. I think of small college towns and the “drunk bus.” I actually used to do it in Crested Butte with my 1979 Toyota Dolphin RV. In Mt’CB after concerts, when the bus stopped running, we would take loads of intoxicated people back into town for free/trade. Safe, somewhat reliable, almost legal (enforcement is 99% of the law), and privately owned.

    posted on November 4th, 2009 at 11:40 pm

  4. 4 On November 5th, 2009, Dan said:

    One wonders what college students do for Butte Bucks…

    DS

    posted on November 5th, 2009 at 6:39 am

  5. 5 On November 5th, 2009, MJ said:

    I’m thinking that Metro should have used the fires as something like a promotional tool. Think of an ad posted on the wall of a station with some slogan like “Metro: it’s the hottest ride in town!”

    posted on November 5th, 2009 at 10:20 am

  6. 6 On November 6th, 2009, Dan said:

    Employment Up, Transit Ridership Down

    BTW, this assertion is faulty statistics (like th’ globul coolin’) or at least cherry-picking (like th’ globul coolin’).

    Over the last more than a decade, ridership is up in that span.

    DS

    posted on November 6th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

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