All these talks about giving up seats to this or that person....it might soon enough become a non-issue as BART ridership continues to decline. During the spring and summer when gas prices were ridiculously high, a lot of folks turned to BART. Now that prices have dropped significantly, many of the new riders have gone back to driving. At the same time, with the weak and vulnerable economy, layoffs have taken even more riders off BART, leaving the trains with more room (according to KRON4)!
Are tough times ahead for BART? We definitely should lower or rid any expectations that improvements will be made to the trains and stations in the foreseeable future.
5 comments:
God forbid they adequately plan for the future when gas prices rise again. Infrastructure! Blah, who needs it!!!!
Well, the gas price drop is supposedly only temporary, but I don't know. I find it ironic considering BART has put out a plea for commuters to contact local governments about possible cuts in funding for BART.
I noticed especially once the Hayward yard was fixed the crowd really thinned out, with gas prices causing the trains to become more crowded.
SFGate.com has an article about SF possibly charging for coming into the city during certain hours. Which is totally ridiculous considering the absolute unreliability of MUNI.
Part of the reason Muni is so unreliable is that it has to compete for resources within the MTA. If DPT and autos didn't consume such a portion of the budget, cause so many delays then Muni service would be better for everyone.
Congestion pricing is the city saying "in this small way we're no longer subsidizing cars in this section of town. Car users are now responsible for the costs the city has been picking up for years."
Conservatives should love this because now, for the first time, people can make informed economic decisions about their transportation choices.
I suspect that the current poor economy has much more to do with decreasing ridership than gasoline prices.
that's quite true too! yes, the economy and the resulting layoffs certainly has decreased bart ridership! the company i worked for just laid off a ton of people...such an awful feeling to see your colleagues go.
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