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instantcoffee69 t1_izpkudx wrote

Reply to comment by ElectricStar87 in Baltimore rail transit lines vs. population density by Left-Indication

Oh no, we're talking about wanting a substantial infrastructure investment. It's how you make a city a better place to live and work.

Get people out of car and into public transportation. The only way to do that is to have GOOD public transportation, and you have to pay and build it

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baltinerdist t1_izq50gj wrote

The other way to do it is to make it free. MTA costs roughly $800M per year and sees less than 100M riders. If every rider was spending two bucks a ride, that still wouldn't even get to 25% of the budget.

Just make all transit services free and watch ridership balloon.

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ElectricStar87 t1_izqlfk9 wrote

This has been tried, and things didn’t work out that way. Obviously perhaps other conditions might change the outcome.

I could understand subsidies/vouchers for individual transit users with limited means, but overall you likely need to maintain fees.

I think overall, fare recovery ratios for public transit tend to be between 20-30% on average, if that’s of use.

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ElectricStar87 t1_izpla7d wrote

Buses provide an extremely good step in that direction, without the costs or liabilities of rail, and with much faster implementation. So many people here just insist that trains are magic and anything other than that is a pale shadow of a solution.

EDIT: buses also allow for greater route flexibility over time (additions, changes).

To everyone downvoting this comment, you are providing no counter argument or contrary data.

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ElectricStar87 t1_izpzkr3 wrote

Buses provide an extremely good step in that direction, without the costs or liabilities of rail, and with much faster implementation. So many people here just insist that trains are magic and anything other than that is a pale shadow of a solution.

EDIT: buses also allow for greater route flexibility over time (additions, changes).

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