Reply to Virginia Discussing Regional Income Tax For NOVA Transit

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Transit ridership in NOVA has been on long-term decline since 2008, predating the pandemic. Current ridership is 60% below 2008 levels. Only 4% of NOVA commuters use transit, which is down from what was a steady 10% of commuters pre-pandemic.
https://novatransit.org/uploads/studiesarchive/2024%20Northern%20Virginia%20Transit%20Trends%20Report.pdf

Spending more on transit is a waste of money.[/quote]

Transit is inadequate, so most people can't use it, so we should ... make transit even more inadequate![/quote]

[b]It's inefficient and slow.[/b] NOVA is large and sprawling without any true center. Good luck figuring out how to make it fast and efficient  [/quote]

Do you think less funding would make it more efficient and less slow?[/quote]

I think without a real urban center, there is no way to make it usable. It works if you want to commute into DC or stay on the same line. Try getting from Lorton to Tysons or from Reston to Springfield (Skyline, not the mall) [/quote]
If you are an ordinary NOVA family that lives in Chantilly and commutes to work for a Federal agency in Springfield, it’s 30 minutes to drive and almost 2 hours by transit.

I’m not even sure what the transit advocates are trying to argue about. Is it billions of public investment to decrease that 2 hours to 1 hour? Still wouldn’t compete with driving and makes zero financial sense.

If Fairfax Connector can add a commuter bus, then they should be doing that with their existing budget and tax increases are not needed. [/quote]

If you are an ordinary NOVA family, almost all of your trips are NOT the commute to work. Why are you focusing exclusively on the commute to work trip, for people who can drive?

The transit advocates are advocating for a transit system that enables people to get where they're going, conveniently and efficiently. I don't understand why anybody would advocate against this - except people who work for the road construction industry, for obvious reasons.[/quote]

Northern Virginia is built completely around the mid to late 20th century lifestyle defined by the personal vehicle. That can't change. It won't change. So it is not smart to try to get everyone connected by transit, and defeat your cause early on by trying to get everyone to pay for it.

The smart move in NOVA is to select one or two linear corridors and enable truly effective and frequent transit only in those areas. Zone them for density and transit value. And fund the transit in those locations from only the people and businesses in those specific corridors. It's been done to some degree already but a region-wide tax is stupid. [/quote]

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