Constance Nompelis wrote:
I just read a press release which stated that the
annual operating cost, per rider, for LRT will be
something like $11,000.
I knew this was an expensive train, but the above
number is staggering to me.
Can anyone verify this? I assume it is based upon the ridership projections.
Phil Krinkie pointed out that this is more than the cost to lease a Lexus for one year.
Connie Nompelis
West Phillips
I'm wondering why Ms. Nompelis didn't bother checking the simple math to see if this number even made sense at all. I'm not surprised, however, that the [rich] Taxpayers League was behind getting this number published.
Let's see:
$11,000 per rider, times riders per day, time days per year.
Met Council is shooting for 9,500 riders per weekday. There were actually about 11,800 riders this past Monday.
There are roughly 260 weekdays in a year, 52 weeks times 5 days a week.
Using a number less than the goal of 9,000 riders per week day, and ignoring weekends completely (i.e. zero riders), that's an annual operating cost of $25 billion a year. In case anyone thinks that might make sense, let me point out that the entire state's budget for FY2002-2003 was $43 billion.
Clearly, this number of $11,000 per rider per year is completely bogus, and it typifies the kind of lies, misinformation and distortion used by short-sighted opponents like Phil Krinkie.
The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) estimated the annual operating cost at $15 million. MnDOT estimated $16-17 million.
Reading the story about this "news release," or more accurately, massively deceiving propoganda, I see that Krinkie also says "we" spent three-quarters of a billion dollars on building the LRT, conveniently forgetting that: (1) it cost under $715 million in today's dollars, which is significantly although not hugely less than his $750 million number, (2) that "we" here in Minnesota did not pay this, but rather the federal goverment paid well over $400 million of that price, and (3) completely avoiding the fact that adding lanes to existing highways (not new highways, which are more expensive usually through right of way purchases) is about $50 million a mile, so that the 12-mile LRT is a bargain in comparison, and (4) the state of Minnesota only paid part of the remaining sum, while Hennepin County, MAC and others paid much of it. Sure, that's all taxpayer money ultimately, but Krinkie's tactic is to enrage taxpayers of greater Minnesota into thinking they personally paid $750 million for a train only a few lefties in Minneapolis will ride.
Or, if perhaps, despite the blatant attempt at "mass deception" on the part of Rep. Phil Krinkie and the [rich] Taxpayers League's David Strom by stating the number this way, they really meant $11,000 per average daily rider per year, which then comes out to an annual operating cost of $104.5 million, which is still way out of the ballpark.
So to summarize:
Rep. Phil Krinkie (R-Shoreview): calls the LRT a "five-year project of mass deception" while telling bald-faced lies in an attempt to deceive the masses (public) into believing the operating costs are $11,305 per rider per year, and that it would be cheaper to lease a BMW or Lexus, ignoring the cost of insurance, gasoline, maintenance, and the huge cost of the roadway infracstructure paid by taxpayers and more expensive than the LRT.
Talking-head David Strom: continues the Big Lie that roads are not subsidized and that LRT is more expensive than roads when it is not.
Sen. Mady Reiter (R-Shoreview): is on the bandwagon of dishonesty and ignorance.
Wait, I see the problem here. The 3 huge radio and TV towers in Shoreview have obviously had deleterious mental health effects on the residents, as the brains of Krinkie and Reiter have clearly been damaged by exposure to their RF radiation while in their homes. All I can say is that I'm glad I no longer live in Shoreview.
Chris Johnson - Fulton
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