I took my car to the dealership this morning to get it serviced. By the time I was finished with the paperwork, it was 9:35am. So I walked to the nearest light rail station and bought a ticket (9:49 AM according to the ticket), and waited. And rode. And waited. And rode. And got to work at 11:35A. For what would be a 30 minute drive in my car.
The fact of the matter is that if it takes four times as long to get anywhere via mass transit, people aren't going to use it. All the cuts in service in order to "save money" just reduce the ridership even more, until the only people using the service are those who have no choice. This isn't brain surgery. This is Economics 101. Higher fares + less service = less ridership. Doh!
- Badtux the Economics 101 Penguin
Here in DFW, they trumpeted the new DART rail/bus system as THE way to get around. The first big test was a 4th of July celebration downtown a few years ago. It took people three and four hours to make a 20-minute car trip. It's a complete waste of money.
ReplyDeleteI know it's terrible now. It was not always that way:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/19/generalmotors.html
Maybe they aren't going too slow. Maybe you are driving too fast.
ReplyDeleteDoes time every move backwards when you are driving to work?
There's a new paradigm in rapid transit - saw it on Science Channel the other night. Smaller is better. Four person electric runabouts, with no drivers, which run in a channel that's half the width of the bus lane, and recharge while they are being loaded. Heathrow just signed on to the system, which should be up and running within the year.
ReplyDelete