Mass Transit Problems

Flashjeff

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I live in Philadelphia, and we're faced with one hell of crisis regarding our mass transit system. Because of a lack of dedicated financing from the state government along with other problems too numerous to mention, our system (SEPTA) is staring at a whopping 62 million dollar deficit, and SEPTA has threatened to institute a draconian plan to close that gap which can only be best described as a doomsday scenario.

In a three-step process, SEPTA would raise the standard fare from it's current $2.00 a ride to $3.00, easily the highest in the nation. Next would come a reduction in weekday service by 20 percent, and the worst of it all----elimination of all weekend service for buses, trolleys and trains. That last part would result in catasttrophe, especially for the thousands and thousands of people who work on weekends and depend on SEPTA to get to their jobs. The notion of the nation's fifth largest city without weekend mass transit is nothing short of unthinkable.

As things stand, politians and the governor are doing what they can to prevent the implimentation of that plan which would go into full effect by March, unfortunately, politicians being the occasionally lower lifeforms they are have needlessly wrangled over the problem. The state legislature is controlled by the Republicans and are at odds with the governor who's a Democrat, and said legislature is headquartered in Harrisburg, in the western part of Pennsylvania, and it's hardly a secret that said legislature doesn't give a damn what happens to Philadelphia.

However, the problems with mass transit stretch all the way across the entire state, so a solution has to be found for everyone. I'm sure over cities from coast to coast are faced with similiar problems about the copious lack of funding for mass transit, a neccesity for everyone. Without mass transit, more cars would wind up on the roads and highways (the SEPTA board came right and admitted their plan would result in losing 20 percent of their ridership), resulting in more gridlock and more pollution being pumped into the air. It's a problem we all face and must find a solution to before things really get out of hand.

So, what's mass transit like in the towns and cities where you live? Are you faced with similar troubles like Philly? Check in and let us all know!
 
Hi, Jeff!

Couldn't they privatize, restructure, downside, or reallocate their service schedule and keep the weekends on instead of cutting them out? What you just described (ah, a year ago, I wasn't here) sounds inhumane to me.

A question for you Jeff: After more than a year since its announcement; how did SEPTA's plan fare with the times? How do people commute on weekends now?
 
lexico said:
Hi, Jeff!

Couldn't they privatize, restructure, downside, or reallocate their service schedule and keep the weekends on instead of cutting them out? What you just described (ah, a year ago, I wasn't here) sounds inhumane to me.

At present, neither option you mentioned is viable, though heaven knows all have been mentioned or considered at one time or another.

A question for you Jeff: After more than a year since its announcement; how did SEPTA's plan fare with the times? How do people commute on weekends now?

Well, unless I typed something wrong in my initial message, it's only been a couple of months since the announcement about the proposed service cuts. A stop gap infusion of funds has temporarily halted SEPTA's "Doomsday scenario" while lawmakers work on a dedicated source of funding. It's still quite a mess all around.
:eek:kashii:
 
Here in Savannah I haven't heard anything in the past few years about our bus system (the only public transportation we have--the citizens won't allow the building of a subway, which possibly wouldn't work anyway with how at-sea-level we are), but while I was still in high school they kept going back and forth on fares, trying to decide whether upping the fare was the solution, so they get more per rider; or to lower, so they get more riders. They decided to lower them for about two years, then upped them once they had the customers they needed. It used to be 75 cents per ride--no transfers. Now, it's $1.50, I believe. And, while you can get downtown from the malls with just one bus, getting there from any other part of town than Abercorn Street (our main stretch through the entire city) takes at least two and sometimes three buses. Add your return trip, and for Savannah it's damn expensive.
 
Jeff, I really hate to see that sort of thing happen. There is so little mass transportation in America as it is, and it would be a shame to see the people of one of America's great old cities suffer from the diminished capability of an established transportation system through the negligence of funding.

Are the politicians at the state level being wooed by interests that would benefit from the demise of mass transit in Philadelphia?
 
Two bucks?

That's a bunch more than I remember paying when I lived there. I used to take the Broad Street Subway down to Snyder Ave and the trackless trolley from there to Fourth Street because it was much cheaper than driving up to Broad & Washington and back each day.

And it's now a dollar more? What does a transfer cost?
 
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Man, that sucks.

Whenever I'm back home in Chicago use the CTA everyday. I couldn't live without it. Personally, I think Chicago is lucky in this aspect. Lots of buses, trains, and subways all well connected. The only think I don't like about it is the L sounds like an earthquake everytime it goes by. (Although you do get used to it.) Not to mention college students get free passes.

:)


To be honest, I don't know how well funded it is. I hope things get better Philadelphia.
 
Shooter452 said:
That's a bunch more than I remember paying when I lived there. I used to take the Broad Street Subway down to Snyder Ave and the trackless trolley from there to Fourth Street because it was much cheaper than driving up to Broad & Washington and back each day.

And it's now a dollar more? What does a transfer cost?

Well, transfers are sixty cents these days. They're sure to go up along with base fares and just about everything else unless we get a dedicated siurce of funding from Harrisburg.
:eek:kashii:
 
flashjeff said:
Well, transfers are sixty cents these days. They're sure to go up along with base fares and just about everything else unless we get a dedicated siurce of funding from Harrisburg.
:eek:kashii:

Yo! Jeff! Go Iggles!!!

Sixty cents? Wow! Quite a trip up from a dime! A ten cent transfer was always the incentive to use the damned system in the first place.

SEPTA (aka: PTA) has always been a quaint, if elderly, mass-transit system. Nostalgically, I would not want it to change at all, but least of all I would not want it to be priced too high to benefit the very people it was meant to serve.
 
GO IGGLES!!!!

Yeah, sixty cents is quite a trip up indeed! And it could go still higher come March. Hardly a pleasant thought since I also remember when transfers were only a dime. Back when I took SEPTA to and from school, it was quite economical. These days? OUCH!!!
 
Mass transit or mass control?

You do realize that by using the so called 'public transportation' you literally put your fate on the hands of operators?



Anyway. The problem I see these days in people commuting is this, a LOT of people travelling in the same time.

Solutions, don't travel at the same time ALL at once.


It should be noted that the trains in Tokyo are like sardine cans during rush hour, and THAT is mass transit. A lot of people travelling in the same time is a lot of people travelling in the same time, no matter they use cars, bus, trains, aircrafts, and so on.



As for subway.

Heh... Heh... Heh.... Sakura Taisen.

No wonder that Savannah citizens rejected the idea of subway, they probably don't want KouBus running around.
 
Well, like I said, Savannah is sea level so that may be a reason why the city didn't argue it with the residents. But the fact is, at least three quarters of the traffic in town goes down one of two streets. One is Abercorn--from two to six lanes from one end of town to the other (north/south)--and the other is DeRenne, which desperately needs widening from six lanes even though it only touches a tiny portion of the city comparitively (and goes east/west). Two thirds of the city is south of DeRenne, and Abercorn is the only "main" street to get through that part of town. We desperately NEED some sort of better public transportation.
 

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