[PRCo] Re: pat__service__cuts__2007.01.23-changed to 2/1/07

[Fred Schneider]

Read carefully what John has to say.   (If I could bold this I would.)

I understand that SEPTA titled its property to the city of  
Philadelphia in 1967 and then leased it back, but that the lease ran  
out in 2004 but SEPTA is still paying the city ... just a way of  
funneling state money into the city.

There was something else ... either PAT or SEPTA about donations to  
many 501.c.3 non profits ... it was a way to funnel money into this  
organizations that county commissioners wanted to give them.

This just doesn't happen here either.   When Maryland MTA got caught  
with their pants down for fixing the body on 7407 (the PCC) for the  
Baltimore Streetcar Museum ... a WBAL TV cameraman found it in the  
shop and an expose was on the 5 PM news that night.   It was killed  
before the 11 PM news when the state also suggested they expose all  
the money that was also given to the boy scouts, the girl scouts,  
etc., etc., etc.

Mass transit isn't just about moving people ... Just like any other  
government agency, it's very much about moving money.   When the  
money runs short there has always been one basic rule, WIDOWS AND  
ORPHANS FIRST.   Scare the people who will make the most fuss and get  
our money back.   And that is precisely what John has said.

I've observed a lot of it this year.   St. Louis is broke.  Philly is  
broke.   Pittsburgh is broke.   One system after another.  At the  
same time we're building more light rail lines!   Capital money is  
there but operating money is not.  But the spending continues.   New  
York just hired a new executive director for transit operations at  
$350,000 a year!   Fur Gott und Himmel.

On Feb 3, 2007, at 10:07 AM, John Swindler wrote:

> Could this really just be a process to mobilize PAT's constituancy  
> to lobby
> the state legislature?  After all, it's worked the last 4-5 years, why
> should it not work again.  (do a search of Post Gazette archives)  
> And if it
> doesn't work, then what????  We will find out in June.
>
> But for those on this list, one might ask why most of the 41 series or
> routes slated for abandonment were never changed to light rail  
> feeders years
> ago.
>
> John
>
>> From: Joshua Dunfield <joshuad at cs.cmu.edu>
>> Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: pat__service__cuts__2007.01.23-changed to  
>> 2/1/07 Date:
>> Sat, 03 Feb 2007 01:33:55 -0500
>>
>> Fred Schneider wrote:
>>> You also might want to question how much analysis PAT did about  
>>> which
>>> routes are on the kill list.   I understand it was only average
>>> patronage per trip without looking at reducing service frequencies,
>>> or cutting some trips back at mid point or anything else.
>>
>> If you're saying the only criterion was average boardings per trip, I
>> don't think that's the case; the "scorecard" has a number of other
>> factors, including a number of "equity" considerations: service to
>> minority, low income, seniors (there's your "old women"), and  
>> disabled
>> populations, as well as "county coverage".
>>
>> Analyzing all permutations of a route network isn't feasible, even if
>> you have reliable data on how many people get on and off at which  
>> stops.
>> Could they have done a more complex analysis?  Probably.  Would it  
>> have
>> been that much different?  I don't know.  Do you have any reason to
>> think it would?
>>
>>>   So a
>>> Mount Lebanon - Airport bus that ran every 1/2 hour with 4  
>>> passengers
>>> carries the same weight as the Brookline bus with 900 daily
>>> riders ... both would be axed.   Does not sound like imagination or
>>> planning, just the old women and children first to make the state
>>> come up with money so we can continue business as usual.
>>
>> Well...it definitely takes some imagination to talk about Mt.  
>> Lebanon-
>> Airport buses.
>>
>>>    But I was
>>> told they did make one route change ... that Library is now an
>>> evening shuttle from Castle Shannon to Library ... the better to
>>> drive away riders.
>>
>> If you look at
>> http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/Portals/0/ServiceChange.pdf ,
>> you'll see that a number of routes are being truncated rather than
>> eliminated
>> (12A, 13A, 13C, 16B, 17B, 18B, 21A...you can find the rest).
>>
>>> I'm not really going to tell you who my pipeline is.   Would not be
>>> fair.
>>
>> My pipeline, at this particular moment, is the following:
>>
>> http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/News/ 
>> ProposedFareandServiceChanges/ServiceScorecardOutcomeAnalysis/ 
>> tabid/340/Default.aspx
>>
>> http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/Portals/0/ServiceChange.pdf
>>
>> -j.
>>
>
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