the TEP was
just a way to figure out which routes to cut. Awesome. You know, more people would take transit if you weren't always screwing them over. Though its not just Muni. You can give a big kiss to your state legislature for giving transit the bird over the next five years. And Gavin, you can take your Gubernatorial run and shove it down your fake green... anyone else angry?
Uneven funding is an old trick. Incompetent management is another. Remember, there are $Trillions invested that are threatened every time transit ridership increases.
ReplyDeletefpteditors, the depressing thing is that those trillion dollar interests that you mention are doomed to fail regardless of how much money we flush down the toilet. All those interests are going bankrupt or in the process. So depressing. All at the expense of our future well-being. We're gonna need ways to move people that don't involve gasoline or cars. That's the really sad part.
ReplyDeleteKunstler is right, sadly. We will spend untold trillions trying to sustain a way of life that has no future. While I think he's prone to hyperbole, he seems to be spot on with that point.
What if they cut some travel time along routes by eliminating some of the stops instead of the whole route? If you could reduce travel times by say 10%, you could provide the same headway with 10% fewer buses system-wide. You would also save some fuel costs by not stopping and accelerating as often. In-vehicle travel times would decrease, which could generate more ridership. However, dwell times at individual stops may increase due to higher passenger volumes at the remaining stops. The biggest downside is obviously extra walking, which could be hard some some segments of the population. But I think this is a better alternative than cutting whole routes. Whaddya' think?
ReplyDeleteJohn that is what the TEP was supposed to do. Eliminate stops, increase service on trunk lines and make things better. Instead they used the TEP to get rid of lines instead of implementing all the change.
ReplyDeleteCavan you're right about Kunstler, though for that matter think about the amount of rail lines that have been trashed over the years for nothing.
ReplyDeleteAt one time there were close to 260,000 miles of rail line in the USA, now there's about 140,000 miles.
I really don't think eliminating stops is the panacea that people make it out to be. In my lifelong experience riding Muni, the level of local service the the reason it enjoys one of the higher riderships for a bus network.
ReplyDeleteThat Muni lacks an adequate rapid transit network is not an excuse to scrap its local connector network, IMO
Now for our MTA Doomsday riots... who's coming with me?
You're right Pedestrianist. There needs to be both local and rapid service. We don't make all roads freeways or locals so why should all transit be local or express. More choices needed. Apparently more money too.
ReplyDelete