[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh - think tank blasts possible new transit taxes

[John Swindler]

Concerning ridership numbers, in Pa, as SEPTA goes, so goes the state (Pa 
ridership numbers)

On a national level, as New York City goes, so goes the the national 
ridership numbers.  I ran across an interesting comment concerning NYCTA 
about a year ago.  Attributed the increase in subway ridership to continuing 
influx of immigrants to the city.  For instance, Astoria was claimed to have 
a  large Russian population.  Filed this under more useless trivia to 
clutter up my memory.  (:>)

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: Pittsburgh - think tank blasts possible new transit 
>taxes Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:29:50 -0400
>
>Bill Robb wrote:
> > What you fail to realize is that subsidies did not exist before the 
>early 70s.
>
>So what?  Cities weren't heavily dependent on cars once, either.
>The mere fact that it was once possible for urban transit to have 
>operational
>self-sufficiency (a phrase from a slightly different context...) is no 
>reason
>to demand that it do so today.
>
>Really, why should urban mass transit make money?  Should we require that 
>police
>departments break even (operationally)?  Should they charge user fees?
>
> > Subsidized transit service is
> > not available to the majority only an (largely) urban minority.
>
>Looks like a pretty big minority.  Pennsylvania has 12 million people.  The 
>SEPTA
>region has 3.8 million people.  Allegheny County (PAT goes outside the 
>county a
>bit, but not enough to matter) has 1.3 million people.  That's close to 
>half
>already and I haven't started in on Harrisburg, Altoona, etc.
>
>[...]
> > The concept of service to
> >  all within a community is now close to be dropped by several places, 
>notably San Jose
> >  and Toronto.
>
>I knew the TTC was going through a budget snafu, but I didn't know they
>were going through an existential crisis.  The "Transit City" plans don't
>look like an existential crisis to me.
>
>[...]
> > Subsidies are evil.  They are what is
> >  killing transit.
>
>If transit is dying, why is ridership increasing?
>
>-j.
>

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