Commuter Rail Fast Facts, FromTransitNow,org
This blog often carries items and comments about commuter rail and the proposed Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) line.
From its lead advocacy group, here are some useful fast facts.
Monday, January 5, 2009
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3 comments:
Just because someone said it a fact does not make it so. Still waiting for anyone to tell me any transit system in this country that does not operate on millions in aid. Metra is about to go bankrupt but we are to believe that KRM will work.
If YOU want to pay for it do so, please leave me out of this until you can:
Tell how and who will pay for this
Name any city in the US where Transit brings about the benefits you claim.
When the ridership does not happen and taxes start going sky high what is the plan to shut it down?
Colt,
Can you inform me of anywhere in the country where ROADS pay for themselves (eg not funded from general taxes)? The means of moving a population around a community/region/state/country is a PUBLIC function. Of course transit will be subsidized.....just like the streets, roads, and highways across the US.
Colt:
No transit system in the US pays for itself, though it turns out that transit was profitable and privately owned until massive government subsidies to highways undermined transit's profitability.
In Wisconsin, 68% of local road funding comes from sources like property taxes. So if you are going to make the argument that you won't support anything that doesn't pay for itself, you ought to take a close look at road funding.
A note on ridership: We live in a free market. Wisconsin provides what I consider to be a triple-platinum level of service for motorists. Therefore, a transit system that wants to gain ridership must provide a quadruple-platinum level of service at a reasonable price. Based on my research, only rail (not busses) is capable of providing this level of service.
Finally, I believe that if you look out to a 50-year time horizon, Rail is the best value for taxpayers as it not only provides better service for its riders, but it does so while encouraging a pattern of land use that puts downward pressure on property taxes overall.
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