[PRCo] Re: Heard on PBS

[Fred Schneider]

I did get a nice answer explaining APTA PT-2 advertising program.  If the
sender, who is a mover and shaker in the industry, agrees, I'll also post his
response.

John Swindler wrote:

> >From: Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com>
> >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >Subject: [PRCo] Heard on PBS
> >Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 08:45:02 -0500
> >
> >Food for thought.
> >Two rather curious things on Morning Edition on National Public Radio
> >this morning:
> >
> >1.  Did not catch all of this ... but it was a proposition to raise the
> >cable car fares in San Francisco to $5.00 a pop in September.   If my
> >calculations are correct that the average cost of a transit ride
> >(including all subsidies) is in the $7 to $8 range, then charging the
> >tourists a premium to ride makes sense.  Maybe not the federal share,
> >but billing the tourists for the state and local share sounds reasonable
> >to me.
> >
>
> Aren't cable car cash fares twice the MUNi base fare???   There are a lot of
> locals using the cable cars.   Will there be any change in the policy on day
> and weekly passes???
>
> When we visited a couple years ago, got a day pass at one of the Market St.
> subway stations, used it on the F line to Fisherman's Wharf, then used the
> pass on the cable car to return to Market St.  I don't recall there being
> any supplemental fare on the cable car - just show the pass.
>
> Could also be that $5 is a lot easier to collect then dealing with one
> dollar bills.  I've noticed this on the local bus to Hershey, where the fare
> is $1.85.  The usual cash payment is two $1 bills.  (Most riders use monthly
> passes or 35 ride tickets.)
>
> >2.  The convoluted paths our money takes was exemplified by a
> >sponsorship announcement on Morning Edition ... brought to you by the
> >American Public Transit Association.  So that's how we get tax money to
> >fund public radio?  The government subsidizes transit, which pays dues
> >to APTA, which in turn forwards part of it to National Public Radio.
> >How many transit properties have we heard complaining that they are
> >underfunded?
> >
>
> You must be referring to Port Authority Transit, which relys on the public's
> short memory.  The answer to your question was covered in the November 27,
> 2002 WTAE-TV's Jim Parson's report.  The title is "Team 4 investigates PAT
> spending" if anyone is interested in looking it up.
>
> John
>
> >Fred Schneider
> >
> >
> >