Free bus service in DC proposed

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Tax receipts are about to fall off the table but, sure, let's create a new spending program.

How many times have you come crying wolf about that? It's as long as I can remember.

The city has been living in la la land for years now thanks to low interest rates that created a giant real estate bubble and, with it, send property taxes soaring, and thanks to Congress dumping a mountain of money on state and local governments. All of that is now coming to a crashing halt. You are free to be completely ignorant and assume tomorrow will be exactly the same as yesterday but I'd suggest maybe paying a little bit of attention to what's happening around you. Things are going to get ugly.

But the city also has a massive budget surplus that it built up during those la la land years, and a much higher income tax base now than it did the last time interest rates were this high (which was only about 15 years ago anyway, it's not like you have to go back to the worst of the 1980s to compare how the city was doing with 7 percent mortgage rates). And this program costs $42 million out of a $14 billion city budget, so it's not going to be the thing that brings everything crashing down, anyway.

This is a great example of how the la la land thinking gets perpetuated, by using magical thinking and false information.

DC is not a “city” and it DOES NOT have a “massive surplus” of funds sitting around. It is massively in debt to the tune of $13 billion.

For contrast, Montgomery County, MD, which many believe to be acting fiscally irresponsibly has a debt of $5.5 billion. But it has a 30% larger population and vastly larger land area.

There was a budget surplus in 2020 thanks to Federal COVID relief $ and those funds were legislatively required to be spent on affordable housing. There is no special vault of money sitting around for the District to draw on. Furthermore, by all accounts future revenue estimates are based on irresponsible assumptions about commercial and residential property taxes.

????

The “D” in DC stands for “District”. It is a federal district. Within DC there is a city called Washington. There also used to be a separate municipality called Georgetown.

Referring to a “city budget” is inaccurate and demonstrates that you don’t know what you are talking about.

… you’ve got to be joking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tax receipts are about to fall off the table but, sure, let's create a new spending program.

How many times have you come crying wolf about that? It's as long as I can remember.

The city has been living in la la land for years now thanks to low interest rates that created a giant real estate bubble and, with it, send property taxes soaring, and thanks to Congress dumping a mountain of money on state and local governments. All of that is now coming to a crashing halt. You are free to be completely ignorant and assume tomorrow will be exactly the same as yesterday but I'd suggest maybe paying a little bit of attention to what's happening around you. Things are going to get ugly.

But the city also has a massive budget surplus that it built up during those la la land years, and a much higher income tax base now than it did the last time interest rates were this high (which was only about 15 years ago anyway, it's not like you have to go back to the worst of the 1980s to compare how the city was doing with 7 percent mortgage rates). And this program costs $42 million out of a $14 billion city budget, so it's not going to be the thing that brings everything crashing down, anyway.

This is a great example of how the la la land thinking gets perpetuated, by using magical thinking and false information.

DC is not a “city” and it DOES NOT have a “massive surplus” of funds sitting around. It is massively in debt to the tune of $13 billion.

For contrast, Montgomery County, MD, which many believe to be acting fiscally irresponsibly has a debt of $5.5 billion. But it has a 30% larger population and vastly larger land area.

There was a budget surplus in 2020 thanks to Federal COVID relief $ and those funds were legislatively required to be spent on affordable housing. There is no special vault of money sitting around for the District to draw on. Furthermore, by all accounts future revenue estimates are based on irresponsible assumptions about commercial and residential property taxes.

????

The “D” in DC stands for “District”. It is a federal district. Within DC there is a city called Washington. There also used to be a separate municipality called Georgetown.

Referring to a “city budget” is inaccurate and demonstrates that you don’t know what you are talking about.

So the "One City" campaign has been a fraud all along? Who knew!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're going to love it when the buses are full of homeless people.

I've been on buses with homeless people and I'm ok with it.

not buses with homeless people. buses FULL of homeless people. they would become de facto homeless shelters.

I like this better than people freezing to death or dying of heatstroke.

A mobile home trailer park outside the city can do that, why ruin transit options for everyone?

Then they will complain of segregation and want the mobile home moved to upper NW or say a mobile gome isn't good enough they want a real home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tax receipts are about to fall off the table but, sure, let's create a new spending program.

How many times have you come crying wolf about that? It's as long as I can remember.

The city has been living in la la land for years now thanks to low interest rates that created a giant real estate bubble and, with it, send property taxes soaring, and thanks to Congress dumping a mountain of money on state and local governments. All of that is now coming to a crashing halt. You are free to be completely ignorant and assume tomorrow will be exactly the same as yesterday but I'd suggest maybe paying a little bit of attention to what's happening around you. Things are going to get ugly.

DC taxes on everyone are going way up, even people with modest incomes. Unlike the federal government, DC does not index its income tax brackets for inflation. People are getting raises because of inflation (though those pay raises rarely keep up with inflation so in real terms people's incomes are actually declining even if they get raises). But those pay increases are pushing people into higher tax brackets in DC because we have this incredibly stupid policy so everyone's tax bills are going up, even though their inflation adjusted pay is going down. The city says income taxes on individual Washingtonians will go up 16 percent this year because of inflation. DC's tax system is appallingly bad but people don't seem to care.

The bad news is the city is taking hundreds or thousands of dollars more from you in taxes. The good news is you save $2 riding the bus.

[Anonymous]

Why not make everything free?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're going to love it when the buses are full of homeless people.

I've been on buses with homeless people and I'm ok with it.

not buses with homeless people. buses FULL of homeless people. they would become de facto homeless shelters.

I like this better than people freezing to death or dying of heatstroke.

A mobile home trailer park outside the city can do that, why ruin transit options for everyone?

This isn't a third world country. These people can't take care of themselves. You don't reward them with a free home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This isn't a third world country. These people can't take care of themselves. You don't reward them with a free home.

Yeah! The US isn't a third world country, unlike Finland!

Wait, what?

[Anonymous]

https://wjla.com/news/local/metro-budget-costs-proposal-gm-randy-clarke-decreases-fare-low-income-passengers-riders-metrobus-trains-peak-hours-green-line-silver-yellow-lenfant-plaza-crystal-city-virginia-washington-dc-council-bill-vote-tom-roussey?fbclid=IwAR1fPbLAmcx4MEL0qn6UeRlXyZBjx0RjORHQ4HlcEzAw5u2_zXaTjlQYkBk&fs=e&s=cl

Half-price fares for snap recipients, but sky high fares for everybody else. If they want more ridership, they should reduce fair costs for everybody as an incentive.

They need to get to the point where riding metro is more appealing than driving and they are doing the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/metro-budget-costs-proposal-gm-randy-clarke-decreases-fare-low-income-passengers-riders-metrobus-trains-peak-hours-green-line-silver-yellow-lenfant-plaza-crystal-city-virginia-washington-dc-council-bill-vote-tom-roussey?fbclid=IwAR1fPbLAmcx4MEL0qn6UeRlXyZBjx0RjORHQ4HlcEzAw5u2_zXaTjlQYkBk&fs=e&s=cl

Half-price fares for snap recipients, but sky high fares for everybody else. If they want more ridership, they should reduce fair costs for everybody as an incentive.

They need to get to the point where riding metro is more appealing than driving and they are doing the opposite.

The proposed metro fare changes are basically WMATA saying that they are a regional system in name only and have zero interest in trying to win back suburban commuters. If MD and VA representatives on the Board approve this budget, they are really not very smart.

MD and VA lawmakers request more accountability from WMATA on the budget while DC keeps throwing more money at them. This is the result, fare cuts for DC and fare increases for MD and DC with no proposed cost controls. This transit system would rather play politics than reform itself. It’s the beginning of a death spiral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/metro-budget-costs-proposal-gm-randy-clarke-decreases-fare-low-income-passengers-riders-metrobus-trains-peak-hours-green-line-silver-yellow-lenfant-plaza-crystal-city-virginia-washington-dc-council-bill-vote-tom-roussey?fbclid=IwAR1fPbLAmcx4MEL0qn6UeRlXyZBjx0RjORHQ4HlcEzAw5u2_zXaTjlQYkBk&fs=e&s=cl

Half-price fares for snap recipients, but sky high fares for everybody else. If they want more ridership, they should reduce fair costs for everybody as an incentive.

They need to get to the point where riding metro is more appealing than driving and they are doing the opposite.

I realize this isn't the case for everyone, but in my particular case, my house is four blocks from Metro, and the school where I drop my kid in the morning is across the street from a station. And my office is a half-mile from the stop on the same line. Metro is FAR more appealing than driving under those circumstances. I'd probably pay $10 in fares each way rather than drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not make everything free?

Because it's incredibly expensive? And benefits rich people along with poor people? And the city has better things to do with its money than pay for bus rides for people who can already afford their own bus rides?

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not make everything free?

Because it's incredibly expensive? And benefits rich people along with poor people? And the city has better things to do with its money than pay for bus rides for people who can already afford their own bus rides?

Wake us up when you start advocating for adding tolls to every roadway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not make everything free?

Because it's incredibly expensive? And benefits rich people along with poor people? And the city has better things to do with its money than pay for bus rides for people who can already afford their own bus rides?

Wake us up when you start advocating for adding tolls to every roadway.

I demand my roads be free and my responsibility for safely operating my vehicle on city streets to be slim to none, thank you very much.

But providing free bus fares? That's absolutely absurd. How are we going to pay for it? Why don't we just make everything free?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not make everything free?

Because it's incredibly expensive? And benefits rich people along with poor people? And the city has better things to do with its money than pay for bus rides for people who can already afford their own bus rides?

Wake us up when you start advocating for adding tolls to every roadway.

I thought I paid those when I buy gas. Where do gas taxes go?