Killing Public Transit

[daveklepper]

PJST:  What per-cent overall of the number of times you've ridden public transit have you experienced this sort of discomfort?   And what per-cent of the times you have driven or ridden in a car and observed a very unfortuate incident or its aftermath even when not affecting directly the car you are using?

I drove cars 1954-1995, up to one year before moving to Israel.  At 85, I know my reaction time is not good enough for me to consider driving.  So I use public transiit.  Public transit in Israel, while not perfect by any means, is far more universal that in the USA, which gives Senior Citizens like me the ability to access the entire country.  I began using public transit, by myself, at age 8 in New York City and made my first solo intercity train trip, Washington, DC - Charlottesville, VA, at age ten.  (A Mr. Eppler, a German Jewish refugee living in the basement apartment of my family's W. 85th St. Brownstone, had ridden with me NY - Washington.)  In addition to NYC and its suburbs, rode public transit in New Haven, Providence, Boston, Concord,NH, Montreal, Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnepeg, Seattle, Portland, OR, Sacramento, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Denver, Colorado Springs, Milwaukee, Chicago, South Bend, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, New Orleans, Shreveport, Atlanta, Charlottesville, Richmond, Washington, Baltimore, Wilmingtonl, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Philadelphia, London, Paris, Berlin, Heidelburg, Franfort, Genevea, Zurich, Bern, Milan, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Porto, Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam, Brussels, Ostend, Charlevoi, Gent, Antwerp, Jacksolnville, Orlando, and of course, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Kiryat Shemona, and I'd say less than one per=cent of the rdies had the kind of incident you describe.

[PJS1]

The percentage of Americans that us public transit to commute has been relatively small and has remained so for a long period.  Overall, approximately five percent of workers use it to get to and from work.  Of course, the percentage is higher in heavily populated urban areas.

 

Most of the middle-class people I have known outside of NYC, i.e. Hartford, Melbourne, Dallas, El Paso, Austin, and Brownsville will not use public transit.  They prefer the comfort, privacy, convenience, flexibility, and reliability of their personal vehicle.  They are willing to pay more for their private ride, and they accept the slightly greater risks of driving.

 

I have ridden public transit since I was five or six years old.  I still ride it when I am in Dallas, San Diego, NYC, etc.  But I have had some really bad experiences on public transit. 

 

Last week I took the DART Light Rail from Mockingbird Station to downtown Dallas.  After sitting down, I noticed a puddle on the floor across the aisle.  What is that, I ask a fellow passenger.  Turns out another passenger had peed on the floor.  It is not the first time that I have seen this sort of thing.

 

Two weeks ago, I was in San Diego.  I rode the trolley from the Old Town Transit Center to Hazard Center, which is a small shopping area in Mission Valley.  A guy that appeared to be de-ranged scared the hell out of some of us.  We called the police but decided to get off before our intended destination.  Whether the cops showed up is unknown.  Riding with someone who appeared to have serious mental issues is not fun.   

 

These incidents illustrate why most of the people I know, that have better options, will not use public transit.  It is not the Koch Brothers that are the real threat to public transit.  It is the nature of the beast.

[alphas]

The Koch Brothers are a rallying cry on the Left.     So anything that their name is connected with no matter how small their involvment will always be blamed for whenever the Left doesn't get their way.   

Public Transit is a political animal today now that private ownership of it is gone.    It has had its ups and downs in my home area and without state and federal government grants it would be quickly gone.    No way the local voters around here would go for a sizable tax increase to keep it going or expand it.         

Having said all of this, I personally believe George Soros is currently the most powerful unelected person this country has seen since the days of JP Morgan.     I say that because both of them had tremendous influence on a political party and both basically picked a president they wanted. 

  

[narig01]

What I can not understand is the Koch brothers motivation for their opposition to public transit spending. Is it a general opposition to public transport, higher taxes, or the simple greed of opposing anything that threatens their source of wealth(the reduction of the use of oil based transport). 

     The article shows how the Kochs achieved their goal, to prevent the expansion of transit. Not does it say what alternatives were proposed. A vague reference to Uber. 

      One thing is the Koch brothers are indeed the favorite bogeyman of progressives. I dislike the demonization of people. Looking at their history is interesting(their father was one of the founders of the John Birch Society).

       

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The search parameters are overly specific and seem to be looking for items that make opponents of public transit look like evil incarnate.

[Paul of Covington]

   I saw this a little over a week ago, and was going to present it, but I thought it might be considered too political.   I decided to go ahead and present it since it isn't pro or con any party, and I'm a great believer in public transit.

https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=Koch+Brothers+And+Nashville+Transit+Plan&qpvt=koch+brothers+and+nashville+transit +plan&FORM=EWRE

   NORTA (New Orleans) recently completed an approximately 500 foot extension of the Canal Street streetcar line to provide an easy transfer of passengers to several bus lines.   They had been trying to do this for many years but ran into stiff opposition.    About five years ago they published the minutes of a public meeting in which one person after another voiced his/her objections.   It seemed to me that the resistance was well organized.   Each speaker voiced concerns for safety (No details about what was so unsafe--at that time riders had to cross six lanes of heavy traffic to transfer.), and what struck me was that they all used almost identical wording in their objections.   I don't know if this was a case like the ones in the link, but I'm wondering.