Free bus service in DC proposed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to be full of young, idealistic, naive white people who think everything should be free. I agree with them when it comes to buses because it will be comedy gold when buses are transformed into roving mental wards, full of screaming homeless people, and the people on the thread are sitting among them saying "this is totally fine."

You seem nice.

NO to free bus. YES to new build for permanent institutionalization (forced to all street people).

Ew. 1930s Germany called and asked for you back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to be full of young, idealistic, naive white people who think everything should be free. I agree with them when it comes to buses because it will be comedy gold when buses are transformed into roving mental wards, full of screaming homeless people, and the people on the thread are sitting among them saying "this is totally fine."

You seem nice.

NO to free bus. YES to new build for permanent institutionalization (forced to all street people).

Ew. 1930s Germany called and asked for you back.

That’s hilarious.

[Anonymous]

What would be a good solution to control crime and mental health, homelessness, teen based problems in DC?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

Oh no! Did your favorite steakhouse close and now you have to pick from one of the remaining 7? It must be really hard to be you now.

This is just weird. So you're cool with an entire section of the city becoming a ghost town? And what happens to the city's budget when one of its main revenue sources dries up?

You can hypothesize that all you want, but we've had surpluses for as long as I can remember. Downtown isn't a ghost town except to fox news viewers, but that's your problem.

Uh, what? Speaking of children. You're probably too young to know who Tony Williams is, and you certainly don't remember what D.C. was like before he was mayor, but here's Tony Williams saying the same thing: https://www.federalcitycouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Letter-to-CFO-Glen-Lee-on-Commercial-Property-Vulnerabilities-11.14.22-final.pdf

And who are all the other co-signers? Commercial property owners, dealers, and developers. If you don’t take what they saw with an entire salt flat, please be in touch as I know of a Nigerian prince who desperately wants to make contact with you.

Who do expect to sign such a letter? Do you think all the city's yoga instructors are going to get together to complain about collapsing commercial property values? You can stick your head in the sand if you like, but this is a major problem for the city's budget. Everyone is trying to get out of their downtown leases because the numbers don't work anymore.

The DC metro area probably has more economists and policy analysts than anywhere else on earth. That none of them are signing off on this speaks volumes. Wake me up when you have some objective analysis. Screeds from lobbyists don’t count.

Or you could just pick up a newspaper? Maybe read a little bit about things happening in our world? Try to educate yourself a little bit?

Yeah, but those of us who actually live and work here don’t really need a bunch of developers or Rupert’s media to be trying to telling us that what we can see with our own eyes is not really true.

Property values go down when interest rates go up, and interest rates have skyrocketed. It's just math. Throw the work from home phenomenon on top of that, and real values downtown are headed for the dumpster. Taxes are assessed on values so that will bring tax receipts crashing down with it, which is going to be a big problem for the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

Oh no! Did your favorite steakhouse close and now you have to pick from one of the remaining 7? It must be really hard to be you now.

This is just weird. So you're cool with an entire section of the city becoming a ghost town? And what happens to the city's budget when one of its main revenue sources dries up?

You can hypothesize that all you want, but we've had surpluses for as long as I can remember. Downtown isn't a ghost town except to fox news viewers, but that's your problem.

Uh, what? Speaking of children. You're probably too young to know who Tony Williams is, and you certainly don't remember what D.C. was like before he was mayor, but here's Tony Williams saying the same thing: https://www.federalcitycouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Letter-to-CFO-Glen-Lee-on-Commercial-Property-Vulnerabilities-11.14.22-final.pdf

And who are all the other co-signers? Commercial property owners, dealers, and developers. If you don’t take what they saw with an entire salt flat, please be in touch as I know of a Nigerian prince who desperately wants to make contact with you.

Who do expect to sign such a letter? Do you think all the city's yoga instructors are going to get together to complain about collapsing commercial property values? You can stick your head in the sand if you like, but this is a major problem for the city's budget. Everyone is trying to get out of their downtown leases because the numbers don't work anymore.

The DC metro area probably has more economists and policy analysts than anywhere else on earth. That none of them are signing off on this speaks volumes. Wake me up when you have some objective analysis. Screeds from lobbyists don’t count.

Or you could just pick up a newspaper? Maybe read a little bit about things happening in our world? Try to educate yourself a little bit?

Yeah, but those of us who actually live and work here don’t really need a bunch of developers or Rupert’s media to be trying to telling us that what we can see with our own eyes is not really true.

Property values go down when interest rates go up, and interest rates have skyrocketed. It's just math. Throw the work from home phenomenon on top of that, and real values downtown are headed for the dumpster. Taxes are assessed on values so that will bring tax receipts crashing down with it, which is going to be a big problem for the city.

There's a lot of businesses downtown that are locked into leases that force them to continue paying rent on offices they don't use anymore. But once those leases are up, they're going to turn in the keys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

What is the city government supposed to do to get workers back in empty offices, exactly?

Lock up homeless people and keep charging bus fares, apparently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

What is the city government supposed to do to get workers back in empty offices, exactly?

Isn't that kind of their job to figure these things out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

What is the city government supposed to do to get workers back in empty offices, exactly?

Isn't that kind of their job to figure these things out?

They have to make it attractive for employers to end the work from home model. Free bus is one of many steps in that direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

What is the city government supposed to do to get workers back in empty offices, exactly?

Isn't that kind of their job to figure these things out?

They have to make it attractive for employers to end the work from home model. Free bus is one of many steps in that direction.

Right. People are abandoning downtown because the buses are too expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

What is the city government supposed to do to get workers back in empty offices, exactly?

Isn't that kind of their job to figure these things out?

Their job to figure out how to get companies to change remote-work policies that they were forced to implement during an unexpected global pandemic and proved very popular? That seems a bit beyond the purview of city government somehow, no? Their job is to figure out what they need to do to adjust to a new reality in how people work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Downtown is dying. Vacancy rates are throw the roof, which are driving down property values which will mean radically lower property tax revenues, which will blow a giant hole in the city's budget. But, sure, let's focus on...[checks notes]...making buses free?

This is what it's like to be ruled by children.

What is the city government supposed to do to get workers back in empty offices, exactly?

Isn't that kind of their job to figure these things out?

Their job to figure out how to get companies to change remote-work policies that they were forced to implement during an unexpected global pandemic and proved very popular? That seems a bit beyond the purview of city government somehow, no? Their job is to figure out what they need to do to adjust to a new reality in how people work.

Part of the city is dying, and that alone seems bad enough, but it promises to bring the city's budget down with it. So, yeah, that kind of seems like it's part of their job. I know politicians just want to hand out goodies to people all day long but sometimes they have to do hard things too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Then maybe we need to do better with our homeless shelters if they're choosing a bus over the shelter.

But I also don't believe your hyperbole.

Believe whatever you like, but our city is hostile to homeless people and warm buses will look like a pretty good sleeping option to many, all things considered.

I'd be very ok with our city being less hostile to homeless people

NP. This kind of holier-the-thou posturing tells me you will be the first to flee to the burbs or the wealthiest corner of ward 3 furthest from any homeless person's shopping cart or tent the minute their presence causes you any amount of discomfort, just like every posturing holier-than-thou millennial straight from a small town, who hasn't grown up with, much less had to deal with the quality of life degradation from whatever cause you're clamoring for. Right now, it's more homeless people on buses. 'Mmkay.

[Anonymous]

We definitely need more frequent buses and more bus lines.
If making them free can free up resources to help getting more frequent buses and more bus lines, then why not.
My kid tells me barely anyone pays anyway. My kid who waits way too long at the bus stop, for a crammed standing ride home from school.
My kid needs the buses they take to come by more than three times an hour right when DCPS lets out.
I understand that other residents of the city need overnight bus service too.
I'm pretty sure those needs are all valid, and together represent a pretty low bar for the Capital of the leader of the free world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Then maybe we need to do better with our homeless shelters if they're choosing a bus over the shelter.

But I also don't believe your hyperbole.

Believe whatever you like, but our city is hostile to homeless people and warm buses will look like a pretty good sleeping option to many, all things considered.

I'd be very ok with our city being less hostile to homeless people

NP. This kind of holier-the-thou posturing tells me you will be the first to flee to the burbs or the wealthiest corner of ward 3 furthest from any homeless person's shopping cart or tent the minute their presence causes you any amount of discomfort, just like every posturing holier-than-thou millennial straight from a small town, who hasn't grown up with, much less had to deal with the quality of life degradation from whatever cause you're clamoring for. Right now, it's more homeless people on buses. 'Mmkay.

With that said. I don't actually think making buses free will increase the number of homeless people on buses.
There is nothing practically stopping homeless people from boarding and riding buses as it is. Just like there is nothing stopping a dozen teenagers from shoving a woman off a bus. There is no radio or other communication between buses and the police or transit police or WMATA, other than people's cell phones. Bus drivers have no incentive to stop violent bullies. Why would anyone thing that they are currently spending a minute of their time stopping sleepy homeless people from boarding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Then maybe we need to do better with our homeless shelters if they're choosing a bus over the shelter.

But I also don't believe your hyperbole.

Believe whatever you like, but our city is hostile to homeless people and warm buses will look like a pretty good sleeping option to many, all things considered.

I'd be very ok with our city being less hostile to homeless people

NP. This kind of holier-the-thou posturing tells me you will be the first to flee to the burbs or the wealthiest corner of ward 3 furthest from any homeless person's shopping cart or tent the minute their presence causes you any amount of discomfort, just like every posturing holier-than-thou millennial straight from a small town, who hasn't grown up with, much less had to deal with the quality of life degradation from whatever cause you're clamoring for. Right now, it's more homeless people on buses. 'Mmkay.

You might want to get some help for those voices in your head because your "intuition" is flat wrong.

I live in DC well away from the burbs or Ward 3. I take the bus, sometimes with people who seem homeless. Sometimes there are people living in tents nearby or abandoned buildings. I don't need to avoid most of them - they are people.