Yup yup, and I’d pay a higher fare if they made it more reliable too. Still a lot cheaper than an Uber.

Another thing I think could help is the Rail + Property model that the Hong Kong MTR uses. They are actually profitable because they develop the real estate around metro stations, and the developed real estate generates positive externalities since it makes metro stops more attractive places for people to go. Obviously it’s not a system that you can just implement easily but for a metro system with financial issues but a population that shows demand for better transit, it’s worth investigating how elements of the model might be applicable.

Bruh for real. It’s bad enough that the metro doesn’t take you everywhere you need to go, but the single biggest factor in me rarely using it is I could leave for the station and my commute time could shoot up by 15mins because I left 30 seconds later than I needed to. As is, if I want to use the metro, I have to leave 15mins earlier than the commute time just in case I am slightly late for the train, so I’m not late for the thing I’m going to. A reliable train system with trains running every ~5 mins would do wonders.

When I lived in Asia it was incredible. Go at any time, you’ll never wait longer than 6 mins for a train. You always knew how long it would take to get somewhere.

If the fundamentals of public transit aren’t even nailed down the extra stuff just doesn’t make a difference.