Tim suggests that if more commuters could reverse-commute, the system would
make more profits and be able to expand. Wizard tells us how drivers suggested
that the outbound buses should carry passengers but that was not implemented.
The elimination of "dead-head" runs might cause more passengers to be carried,
but the transit operators would argue that it would make the schedule for the
inbound run more subject to delays. I believe that there are union rules
about time between runs and I don't know whether they apply when the driver
dead-heads out and starts an inbound run, versus an outbound passenger carrying
run.
There are a lot of things that the transit operation doesn't do that make
sense to some. I was talking to a nurse who takes buses all the time who was
on the Transit Advisory Board. When he suggested that there were a lot of
people at United Hospital in Saint Paul who would take the bus home after
their shift ended at midnight, if the bus stopped at 12:15 or so, it was
ignored. He eventually quit the TAB because no suggestions seemed to get
serious consideration.
The fact is that the transit operation will never break even, even on just
operating costs. The current fares pay only about 1/3 of operating costs
and none of the capital costs, such as buying buses and building maintenance
facilities, bus hubs, etc. This figure is pretty much in line with transit
operations across the country. Only a few cities have enough ridership to
come closer to breaking even on some parts. I don't have the figures, but
some of the New York transit pieces break even or make a profit on operating
costs.
The recently started construction of lrt guarantees that the portion paid by
fares will go down. The "feeder" bus lines will carry relatively few people
per hour of service. The final submission to the Feds showed that implementing
lrt without some kind of new funding (read bigger subsidy) would constrain bus
system expansion greatly.
Wizard suggest paying higher gas taxes would cause people to ride the bus more.
Perhaps, but it wouldn't be a case of paying what they should pay. I have
posted before references to a couple of studies, one from the U of M, which
conclude: 1) if bus, rail, and car trips were fully priced at the marginal
social cost per passenger mile, transit would be more expensive and people
would shit to cars; 2) the users of transportation in the Twin Cities directly
pay 84% of all costs that could be attributed to them, government pays 9%, and
everyone pays indirectly for 7%. Now, if you extrapolate the 16% not paid
directly to the 90%+ of the population that uses transit or auto to get around,
I would argue that only 1-2% of the total costs of transportation are not paid
by those who use them.
While fuel taxes are high in Europe, etc, they are high because they are a cash
cow to pay for social programs having nothing to do with transportation or
its effects. Note that 61% of the trips in the United Kingdom are by car,
and 85% of the passenger miles, even with confiscatory taxes.
Those who use cars pay incrementally for each mile. Consider the bus riders.
They can pay by the ride, get a pass for a certain number of trips, or buy a
monthly pass. If they buy a monthly pass, it is priced based on an assumption
of an average number of trips. If a pass holder makes more than that number
of trips in a month, the subsidy to that rider has gone up because they are
getting free rides. The more monthly passes, the more the subsidy.
Remember too, that our transit operation aims at getting those who have a
choice of whether to ride or drive into the bus. The demographics of metro
transit, used to show that buses aren't just for poor people, show that
25% of the riders earn less than $20,000 and 25% earn $70,000 or more. In San
Antonio, 40% earn less than $10,000. Figures from memory.
Bruce Gaarder
Highland Pkwy Saint Paul
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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