[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Retro Transit: Winners and Losers

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Retro Transit: Winners and Losers
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1204584517.shtml


   The St. Paul paper has a good article regarding a key downside to the
   Central Corridor: significant cuts to bus service.
   The Route 16 bus is one of the most traveled and the MTC's least
   unprofitable line. So of course, when the Central Corridor comes
   rolling through, this service will be slashed (the word the PP used)
   to half or less of current levels. The alternate route 50 will be
   entirely cut. There's no word on the freeway routes 94B and 94D, but a
   reasonable expectation is that bus service will be adjusted to make
   Central Corridor ridership hit the desired targets. It's like health
   care: socialized medicine only looks good compared to no medicine.
   The problem of course is that while the train will work for many, it
   will be a degradation of service for others. If for example you catch
   the 16 at Hamline and University, midway between Snelling and
   Lexingtion, you have to either accept the degraded bus service or walk
   up to half a mile more. Sure, they'll eventually add this and two
   other stations, but even so, the bus stops outnumber rail stops at
   least 2 to 1.
   Don't forget that even with the same net ridership, the fare boxes
   will collect far less on Light Rail because there are no fare boxes,
   no turnstiles, and few if any conductors checking tickets.