4 ms·

38% of the MTA's operating budget comes from train and bus fares. As much as it would be nice if it were free, the money needs to come from somewhere.

by wan23 4y ago

cagenut 4y ago
in order to reverse the incentives that brought us the current system design, the net of road-taxes/tolls vs public-transit-fares should be re-balanced until transit is free and driving has incremental costs, as opposed to the current effective inverse.
zxcvbn4038 4y ago
They get billions of the federal and state governments - I’ve always wondered why the federal government pours so much money into a transit system that such a small percentage of the country uses.
- eclipticplane 4y ago
  Would they not also pour billions into transit if everyone in NYC lived in smaller, rural towns? Just a spot check, but Montana received $491 million in 2020 (https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/leg_reference/Brochures/Highway-Funding-2020.pdf https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/leg_reference...) and has a population of ~1 million. NYC has ~8 million, ~20 million in the greater metro region.
- derefr 4y ago
  The alternative is pouring the money into more highway spending for those same people. (Yes, despite highways being state-run infrastructure projects, the federal government mostly pays for them — this is why they're able to enforce uniform standards for road design + signage + etc.)
presentation 4y ago
Do what Japan does, the railways are private real estate companies that run giant shopping/apartment/office complexes on top of the stations. They’re super rich. They’re regulated so they have to provide service to unprofitable areas and use standardized infrastructure. It is glorious.
bradleyjg 4y ago
They are also the single least efficient transit organizations on the planet, at least when it comes to new construction where apple to apple comparisons are easier to make.

38% of the MTA's operating budget comes from train and bus fares. As much as it would be nice if it were free, the money needs to come from somewhere.

by wan23 4y ago

38% of the MTA's operating budget comes from train and bus fares. As much as it would be nice if it were free, the money needs to come from somewhere.

cagenut 4y ago

in order to reverse the incentives that brought us the current system design, the net of road-taxes/tolls vs public-transit-fares should be re-balanced until transit is free and driving has incremental costs, as opposed to the current effective inverse.

zxcvbn4038 4y ago

They get billions of the federal and state governments - I’ve always wondered why the federal government pours so much money into a transit system that such a small percentage of the country uses.

eclipticplane 4y ago
Would they not also pour billions into transit if everyone in NYC lived in smaller, rural towns? Just a spot check, but Montana received $491 million in 2020 (https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/leg_reference/Brochures/Highway-Funding-2020.pdf https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/leg_reference...) and has a population of ~1 million. NYC has ~8 million, ~20 million in the greater metro region.
derefr 4y ago
The alternative is pouring the money into more highway spending for those same people. (Yes, despite highways being state-run infrastructure projects, the federal government mostly pays for them — this is why they're able to enforce uniform standards for road design + signage + etc.)

presentation 4y ago

Do what Japan does, the railways are private real estate companies that run giant shopping/apartment/office complexes on top of the stations. They’re super rich. They’re regulated so they have to provide service to unprofitable areas and use standardized infrastructure. It is glorious.

bradleyjg 4y ago

They are also the single least efficient transit organizations on the planet, at least when it comes to new construction where apple to apple comparisons are easier to make.