Reply to Metro warns of huge budget deficits and a death spiral

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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? [/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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. [b]I'd never suggest we stop building those, either.[/b][/quote]

I would. Yes, we should maintain the roads and road bridges we currently have. But we really, really have to stop building new/bigger roads and road bridges. Completely aside from the environmental aspects, it's fiscally unsustainable. It's a Ponzi scheme. There's always money to build new/bigger roads, there's never money to maintain them once they're built.[/quote]

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