Anonymous wrote:Don’t you just love it when progressives state we need to dump unlimited amounts of money into WMATA, even though you might not use it, because, “We live in a society!”. Yet on the other hand they completely decriminalize fare theft. Gee, if we live in a so called society with laws, civility, and order, then why isn’t theft a problem for progressives then? You can’t have it both ways. If we live in a society that requires funding of public transport, then we also live n a society that should require basic standards for law and order and punishment for breaking basic social contracts we should have for citizens of this so called society.


It’s total hypocrisy trying to appeal to “society”.

Young "progressive" SJWs say "society" (meaning you) should pay while they "slay."

Don’t you just love it when progressives state we need to dump unlimited amounts of money into WMATA, even though you might not use it, because, “We live in a society!”. Yet on the other hand they completely decriminalize fare theft. Gee, if we live in a so called society with laws, civility, and order, then why isn’t theft a problem for progressives then? You can’t have it both ways. If we live in a society that requires funding of public transport, then we also live n a society that should require basic standards for law and order and punishment for breaking basic social contracts we should have for citizens of this so called society.


It’s total hypocrisy trying to appeal to “society”.

Anonymous wrote:Well they need to get people to stop skipping the fare. It's on them but they don't want to do better. And now we need to bail them out.

It was actually the SJWs on the DC Council who pushed to decriminalize fare theft. Treated as a civil offense, police within DC limits can't even demand identification from fare thieves if the thieves refuse to provide it.

The DC Council needs to reinstate arrests and criminal sanctions for fare theft. Having a few "evaders" sitting with plastic cuff restraints by the fare gates while waiting to be processed would go a long way to deter others.

Anonymous wrote:Three things that are not creating the Metro budget hole:

1. fare jumping
2. wrapping holiday buses or trains
3. producing reports required by law

I am glad that at least by omission you agree that spending hundreds of millions of dollars on 3 new - and totally unnecessary - office buildings is a contributing factor.

But lets me real here, anyone that has actually worked for an organization that has engaged in serious cost cutting knows that no extraneous costs are spared, big or small. Because at some point, there ceases to be easy low hanging fruit and the efficiency gains are all about the margins.

It is hard to take WMATA’s budget issues seriously when there is zero evidence that WMATA is taking the budget issue seriously. Their first job should be to cut admin spending to the bare essentials and then make their request to the states. Even if it only saves a little bit of money, it doesn’t matter. What is does show is a level of seriousness about cost controls that gives everyone confidence that they have moved past the days of corruption and incompetence.

I see it as the result of chronic mismanagement and corruption within the system. I have known individuals who worked for WMATA who boasted about how little work they had to do. As long as you knew the right people to get hired, you were golden.

If federal money is going to go into funding it, it needs to be federally run with oversight and proper checks and balances. Otherwise, keep the tax dollars away from it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at the FY25 Metro budget? It sounds very drastic! 67 out of 135 bus lines may be totally eliminated. 10 metro stations closed and more.

What to make of this proposal? Is there a way to avoid such draconian measures?

https://www.wmata.com/initiatives/budget/upload/GM-Proposed-FY25-Budget-3.pdf

Yes, federal employees return to work at least 3 days per week and criminalize fare jumping.

Or you can just layoff all of the WMATA deadbeats and automate 80% of the jobs. Agree on criminalization of fare evasion. It shouldn’t be up to working class people to make sure CRE and WMATA survive.

Yes, I too can opine anonymously on the internet about things I don't know anything about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who could have foreseen that going to a payment optional system would lead to this?

Or we could decide that public transportation is a public good that should be funded by taxpayers in general, not just users. Like we treat streets -- we all pay for them, not just drivers.

It already is funded every year by taxpayers... heavily subsidized. And what do you think the gas tax is used for?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at the FY25 Metro budget? It sounds very drastic! 67 out of 135 bus lines may be totally eliminated. 10 metro stations closed and more.

What to make of this proposal? Is there a way to avoid such draconian measures?

https://www.wmata.com/initiatives/budget/upload/GM-Proposed-FY25-Budget-3.pdf

Yes, federal employees return to work at least 3 days per week and criminalize fare jumping.

Or you can just layoff all of the WMATA deadbeats and automate 80% of the jobs. Agree on criminalization of fare evasion. It shouldn’t be up to working class people to make sure CRE and WMATA survive.

Public transportation is the crime railway Express to the suburbs

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at the FY25 Metro budget? It sounds very drastic! 67 out of 135 bus lines may be totally eliminated. 10 metro stations closed and more.

What to make of this proposal? Is there a way to avoid such draconian measures?

https://www.wmata.com/initiatives/budget/upload/GM-Proposed-FY25-Budget-3.pdf

Yes, federal employees return to work at least 3 days per week and criminalize fare jumping.

MD and VA contribute additional funds only once DC criminalizes fare evasion and starts enforcing it.

Metro crying wolf about funding?

Poetic that it’s so close to Groundhog Day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not paying attention to Ubers price increases. Short trips used to run under $10. Now they are all $15 and up.

Which is still cheaper than the metro when traveling with multiple people. And even when Uber is more expensive, the difference is still negligible compared to metro. I’ll pay a few dollars extra to be more safe.

OK, y'all, we can get rid of WMATA now. PP personally would rather take Uber, even if it costs more. Problem solved!

It's not just PP. Ridership has cratered

Peak-hour commuting Metrorail ridership is down, unsurprisingly, given work from home. So now we don't need Metro trains or buses anymore? Is that what you're saying?

MD and VA fund metro as commuter rail. If it’s not used by commuters, then there is no reason for MD and VA to fund it at the same levels

That's silly. MD and VA fund Metro as regional transportation, which it is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not paying attention to Ubers price increases. Short trips used to run under $10. Now they are all $15 and up.

Which is still cheaper than the metro when traveling with multiple people. And even when Uber is more expensive, the difference is still negligible compared to metro. I’ll pay a few dollars extra to be more safe.

OK, y'all, we can get rid of WMATA now. PP personally would rather take Uber, even if it costs more. Problem solved!

It's not just PP. Ridership has cratered

Peak-hour commuting Metrorail ridership is down, unsurprisingly, given work from home. So now we don't need Metro trains or buses anymore? Is that what you're saying?

MD and VA fund metro as commuter rail. If it’s not used by commuters, then there is no reason for MD and VA to fund it at the same levels

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not paying attention to Ubers price increases. Short trips used to run under $10. Now they are all $15 and up.

Which is still cheaper than the metro when traveling with multiple people. And even when Uber is more expensive, the difference is still negligible compared to metro. I’ll pay a few dollars extra to be more safe.

OK, y'all, we can get rid of WMATA now. PP personally would rather take Uber, even if it costs more. Problem solved!

It's not just PP. Ridership has cratered

Peak-hour commuting Metrorail ridership is down, unsurprisingly, given work from home. So now we don't need Metro trains or buses anymore? Is that what you're saying?