Virginia Discussing Regional Income Tax For NOVA Transit

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The problem is that others from ROVA also use the transit infrastructure in NoVa. Tons of super commuters that come from RIC area or more rural areas in western VA or WV multiple times per week.

The problem is that our transit infrastructure exists to bring jobs to DC. Why should VA fund DC as a jobs center?

It is true that this was the original purpose of Metro, in the 1960s and 1970s.

It is also true that it is now 2024, and that there is a lot more transit in northern Virginia than just the 1960s/1970s Metro.

Have you seen a metro map? There are no connections between blue/yellow and orange silver further out than Arlington. It's still a model where routes radiate from DC. If you aren't traveling to or from DC (the majority of NOVA commuters) it's worthless.

I sure have. Including the part of it that is a gray line in northern Virginia.

An if you live anywhere along the Blue/yellow corridor, you practically have to go to DC to access it. If you live in the very wide gulf in between you get no metro. Why should people who don't live along it pay for it? Let fares fund it and if the ridership volume isn't there, then maybe it doesn't need to exist

Exactly. I personally will never support another penny of tax money going to WMATA until I see evidence that they are willing to control costs. All I have seen is that every few years they demand a taxpayer bailout and all I can ever see the funds being used for is pay increases and pensions. The system costs keep going up yet service quality keeps getting worse.

Service is actually much better than it used to be.

You must be grading on a curve. Operating costs significantly higher and service levels significantly lower than pre-COVID. Add to that the unpleasantness of the safety issues, particularly persistent drug abuse and prevalent mental health crises and it’s easy to see why rail ridership is about 50% pre-COVID.

Have you actually taken Metrorail anywhere any time lately? Also, do you think work-from-home might have an effect on ridership?

I take Metro once a week and over 50% of the time someone is smoking weed in a car or a station. About once per month something crazy happens, like the time the unhoused person smoked fentanyl in my car.

I take metro more than once a week and have never been in a car or station with someone smoking weed. Outside the station, yes. Inside of it, no.

I was on a Metro car once recently where someone was vaping, but it didn't make me decide "Transit sucks, from now on I am driving everywhere!" because I am not bonkers.

You’re lucky it was only vaping. Maybe people smoking cigarettes, marijuana or vaping with you in a confined public space is acceptable to you. That’s not a majority opinion.

I'm the PP you're responding to. Nobody else got up to move, either.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that others from ROVA also use the transit infrastructure in NoVa. Tons of super commuters that come from RIC area or more rural areas in western VA or WV multiple times per week.

The problem is that our transit infrastructure exists to bring jobs to DC. Why should VA fund DC as a jobs center?

It is true that this was the original purpose of Metro, in the 1960s and 1970s.

It is also true that it is now 2024, and that there is a lot more transit in northern Virginia than just the 1960s/1970s Metro.

Have you seen a metro map? There are no connections between blue/yellow and orange silver further out than Arlington. It's still a model where routes radiate from DC. If you aren't traveling to or from DC (the majority of NOVA commuters) it's worthless.

I sure have. Including the part of it that is a gray line in northern Virginia.

An if you live anywhere along the Blue/yellow corridor, you practically have to go to DC to access it. If you live in the very wide gulf in between you get no metro. Why should people who don't live along it pay for it? Let fares fund it and if the ridership volume isn't there, then maybe it doesn't need to exist

Exactly. I personally will never support another penny of tax money going to WMATA until I see evidence that they are willing to control costs. All I have seen is that every few years they demand a taxpayer bailout and all I can ever see the funds being used for is pay increases and pensions. The system costs keep going up yet service quality keeps getting worse.

Service is actually much better than it used to be.

You must be grading on a curve. Operating costs significantly higher and service levels significantly lower than pre-COVID. Add to that the unpleasantness of the safety issues, particularly persistent drug abuse and prevalent mental health crises and it’s easy to see why rail ridership is about 50% pre-COVID.

Have you actually taken Metrorail anywhere any time lately? Also, do you think work-from-home might have an effect on ridership?

I take Metro once a week and over 50% of the time someone is smoking weed in a car or a station. About once per month something crazy happens, like the time the unhoused person smoked fentanyl in my car.

I take metro more than once a week and have never been in a car or station with someone smoking weed. Outside the station, yes. Inside of it, no.

I was on a Metro car once recently where someone was vaping, but it didn't make me decide "Transit sucks, from now on I am driving everywhere!" because I am not bonkers.

You’re lucky it was only vaping. Maybe people smoking cigarettes, marijuana or vaping with you in a confined public space is acceptable to you. That’s not a majority opinion.

I'm the PP you're responding to. Nobody else got up to move, either.

I was in a car with a man having a psychiatric episode similar to Jordan Neely. Only a handful of people moved to another car.

I am sure if you asked them if they would like to sit in a rail car with someone vaping they would say no. Why they did not feel sufficiently compelled to move is hard to say, but human nature seems to cause people to freeze in stressful situations.