Metro warns of huge budget deficits and a death spiral

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP is a troll.

Metros and subways have had these sorts of problems in every large city of the western world. I lived in Paris for years, and they had the same problems. Every morning I'd see teens jumping the fare gate, even with the gate blockers.

Guess what? The metro never dies. Never. It can be stinky, overcrowded, chronically underfunded, occasionally dangerous, and rarely given to fatal accidents...

But it will always be there, because it fills a critical need for large cities.

So you can stamp your feet all you want, OP. The Metro is not going away.

Sure, it might not go away. Have fun waiting 30 minutes to 1 hour between trains though when that’s the only way ot can remain economically viable, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the reality of public transit:

https://www.wusa9.com/article/traffic/mission-metro/metro-warns-massive-service-cuts-death-spiral-transit-750-million-shortfall/65-9c0dc54f-8f65-46c4-8390-51e8108ac1a5


Where are the anti-car fascists now? Have fun going to work or doing things on the weekend. The anti-car crowd loves to give pie in the sky calculations that never account for human factors like crime, overrun costs, inefficiencies, and huge bloated salaries and benefits for the unionized workers bankrupting the system. So glad we are spending billions more on this black hole with the purple line. Watch, the only solution they’ll come up with is to increase taxes and to increase fares to outrageous prices. It has never dawned on them to start with common sense ideas like increasing safety and severely punishing fare evaders. Why should anyone pay of a huge portion of people ride for free already?

I am not anti-car but I take the metro and the bus a ton and think that we are comparing apples and oranges here. Roads for drivers are completely subsidized by taxes without user fees (at least within DC). Gas taxes don't even come close to paying for road construction and maintenance. Yet when the state or city needs money for roads, we budget money for it in the council, legislature, etc. We don't say that the use of roads is in a "budget deficit death spiral" because they aren't paid for by the users. Let's do the same with public transportation.

+1

Should we stop investing in sidewalks since pedestrians don't even pay for them?

Ceasing investment in public transportation would be so short-sighted and likely very costly down the road for the this area. We have no idea what transportation is going to look like in 20 years, or 50. Abandoning metro or buses because of current challenges would be a great way to put our metropolitan area at a serious disadvantage relative to other cities who are more forward looking. I don't feel we can even say with confidence things like "WFH is here to stay" (talk to people determining WFH policies for major companies and professional firms -- it's not that straightforward at all). I also don't know what the shift away from gas-powered cars (which is definitely coming) is going to look like for car ownership and driving.

Is OP actually suggesting that we should just... abandon metro? That's insane, and I say that as someone who doesn't use it often (I walk to work and drive most places on the weekend). Metro is a major part of DC's value proposition to young workers (it allows people to move here for jobs without buying cars, something I did 20 years ago), and thus also a major part of its value proposition to business. Look at Amazon's investment in Crystal City/National Landing, which absolutely hinged, in part, on a new metro stop to serve that area.

Metro is really vital to this area and we have to find a way to make it work. And yes, it will cost money. Guess what -- roads and bridges cost enormous amounts of money too. I'd never suggest we stop building those, either.

So keep on funding something losing almost $1B per year. Taxpayers have infinite wallets. Brilliant plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, it might not go away. Have fun waiting 30 minutes to 1 hour between trains though when that’s the only way ot can remain economically viable, lol.

Roads are not economically viable, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, it might not go away. Have fun waiting 30 minutes to 1 hour between trains though when that’s the only way ot can remain economically viable, lol.

Roads are not economically viable, lol.

But at least I don’t gotta be held hostage by ridiculous wait times like the metro is foreseeing because it is in massive trouble and needs to severely cut service in order to rein in costs.

[Anonymous]

Crazy idea but take care of the murder problem (two so far this year that I know of) and maybe don't let thousands of people jump the turnstile and ride for free every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Crazy idea but take care of the murder problem (two so far this year that I know of) and maybe don't let thousands of people jump the turnstile and ride for free every day.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So keep on funding something losing almost $1B per year. Taxpayers have infinite wallets. Brilliant plan.

MCPS is losing $3 billion per year on schools. MC DOT is losing $61 million per year on roads. MD SHA is losing $359 million per year on roads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, it might not go away. Have fun waiting 30 minutes to 1 hour between trains though when that’s the only way ot can remain economically viable, lol.

Roads are not economically viable, lol.

But at least I don’t gotta be held hostage by ridiculous wait times like the metro is foreseeing because it is in massive trouble and needs to severely cut service in order to rein in costs.

No, analogously, you will be held hostage by car traffic and car crashes on unmaintained roads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, it might not go away. Have fun waiting 30 minutes to 1 hour between trains though when that’s the only way ot can remain economically viable, lol.

Roads are not economically viable, lol.

But at least I don’t gotta be held hostage by ridiculous wait times like the metro is foreseeing because it is in massive trouble and needs to severely cut service in order to rein in costs.

Being held hostage by gridlock is much preferable. It really helps people chill-out and behave in a courteous manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, it might not go away. Have fun waiting 30 minutes to 1 hour between trains though when that’s the only way ot can remain economically viable, lol.

Roads are not economically viable, lol.

But at least I don’t gotta be held hostage by ridiculous wait times like the metro is foreseeing because it is in massive trouble and needs to severely cut service in order to rein in costs.

So you have never sat in wall to wall traffic on 66 or I-95 or the BW Parkway, waiting hours of your life due to a traffic accident or construction or both? Because I have.

I've also watched as many of these roads build more and more lanes but make them toll lanes, so that even though my taxpayer dollars go to pay for the road itself (which is astronomically expensive, roads are a huge cost center), if I want the road to work well for me, I have to pay even more in tolls.

And the addition of lanes never seems to address the traffic issues, which get worse each year (other than a couple years of improvement during Covid). The only thing that would actually improve traffic concerns? Fewer cars on the road. Which means: better public transportation.

It is beyond myopic to argue that we should stop funding metro. That would just put MORE people on the roads. Who does that help? And most people are not paying the tolls and as a PP explained, the gas tax doesn't come close to covering the cost of roads, plus with the shift to EVs, we'll eventually see less gas tax revenue anyway. I mean, what is your plan here?

Glad the OP of this dumb thread is not actually in charge of transportation policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If metro dies, the city dies. It would be catastrophic. I would love for MD and VA to pay their fair share. Bowser should make this her #1 priority.

Don’t count on it. She can’t even get workers back into the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, it might not go away. Have fun waiting 30 minutes to 1 hour between trains though when that’s the only way ot can remain economically viable, lol.

Roads are not economically viable, lol.

But at least I don’t gotta be held hostage by ridiculous wait times like the metro is foreseeing because it is in massive trouble and needs to severely cut service in order to rein in costs.

Being held hostage by gridlock is much preferable. It really helps people chill-out and behave in a courteous manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Crazy idea but take care of the murder problem (two so far this year that I know of) and maybe don't let thousands of people jump the turnstile and ride for free every day.

+100

Agreed. The subway feels a lot less safe since they decriminalized fare evasion (who would have thought?!), and I'm sure most of the threatening people jumped the turnstile.

[Anonymous]

I've gotten really sick of how much it costs to ride when most of the people I see entering the system aren't paying. It's $14 a day to park and ride from my close-in suburb but we've had hour+ long delays (Tuesday) and crime. I often choose to pay slightly more to park downtown. The train is crowded Tuesday through Thursday and not at all crowded on Monday and Friday. I'm not sure which feels safer. I try to only ride near rush hour because safety in numbers, but at least a couple violent attacks were at rush hour along my route (red line).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So keep on funding something losing almost $1B per year. Taxpayers have infinite wallets. Brilliant plan.

MCPS is losing $3 billion per year on schools. MC DOT is losing $61 million per year on roads. MD SHA is losing $359 million per year on roads.

So fund roads since it loses a lot less than the metro.

Mcps needs to be cut in half. What a bloated mess.