timothy connolly wrote:
> Look closely and what you will see are "self-indulgent
> sprawling suburbanites" of the middle class white
> collar workers commuting downtown along with poorer
> blue collar workers while most people makingreverse
> commutes are poorer blue collar workers.
Bus drivers themelves noticed very early that reverse
commuters were not using bus service because bus service did
not exist. Bus drivers were driving "dead head" (empty) to
Chaska, Shokape (sp?), Johnathan, Wayzata, etc., then
starting the route inbound for the morning rush, with the
reverse at night. There were decent-paying jobs out there,
but even if we picked them up in town, they could not get
home at 3 when they got off work, but had to wait till six
p.m. or later to come home. By 1980 bus drivers were
complaining that we were missing fares we could have had.
The bus company, then MTC, were deaf to pleas from drivers.
>
> It would also have the benficial effect of making it
> more sensible(realistic) for Metro Transit to add more
> busses to existing routes thereby relieving discomfort
> for current patrons and creating favorable conditions
> to attract more passengers which in turn will.......
>
> Actually, it doesn't work quite that way. The bus company left fares too low for
>too long (for reasons I cannot understand). If you can remember, fares were only
>thirty cents in 1977, with an extra dime if you crossed the Mpls-St. Paul line.
>Those fares were way behind the rest of the country at that time. Others were
>charging 60 or 75 cents then. Then when MTC did raise fares to meet the cost
>(actually lower the subsidy on every ride), they seemed to climb precipitously, but
>that perception was the result of having fares unnaturally low for too long. Someone
>still connected to the bus company can tell you the subsidy/passenger. It used to be
>something like $1.35/each ride. Unnaturally low gas prices are what fuels people
>using cars instead of the bus. If we were paying the cost of gas ($5/gal in Canada,
>I think) ridership would rise quickly.
However, we do love our cars. I have to say that I purely
love driving the bus (or any big equipment), but I hate
riding it. I like driving, I hate passengering.
WizardMarks, Central
Candidate for Library Board
>
>
>
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