Thanks for Commenting
I bought my car without government assistance. I pay for the maintenance and gas for my car. I think the people who ride the Railrunner should pay for the ride without depending on government assistance.
Public transportation,like the roads, is an economic asset that benefits everyone. Building a commuter train is forward thinking to a time when most people can no longer afford to drive private cars. It seems to me that gas prices are moving us towards the direction of public transportation.
Albuquerque short sighted sprawl has not been conducive to ridership but the cost of private transport is spiraling out of reach for more working people.
I hope the train can eventually run the entire Rio Grand Corridor.
Mario if I have my math correct I came to the following conclusion.
A day pass for three zones is $4
We have been told that ridership pays for 1% or 2% of the operational and maintenance cost of the Rail Runner. That mean 98% is paid by the taxpayers. When translated to dollars that means that the true cost for one passenger for one day is $412, $408 provided by the taxpayer and $4 by the passenger. Now I can buy a round trip ticket from Untied Airlines to fly from Albuquerque to Denver and back for $266. Now does this really make sense?
Qofdisks,
Believe it or not, I don't really have a problem with mass transit (notice I didn't say public transportation). I'm originally from back East, and used it extensively all through my high school and college years. I've used it several times when visiting major U.S. cities and in Europe. I realize that most if not all of those systems are public, but I believe they could just as easily be run by private entities.
With that said, New Mexico is not about to let the density of housing that is needed to help make a train make sense. People fight to keep Walmart from building in their neighborhoods. Do you really think they are going to allow highrise apartment and condominiums to be built? Nothing I've seen or heard in my time in NM makes me believe that will happen.
Buses make more sense then the Rail Runner or a light rail system down Central. If we hit a point where people can't afford to drive private vehicles, bus ridership will increase. More importantly, buses are much easier to reroute according to populations shifts than tracks because the buses use existing infrastructure (i.e. roads).
That argument against buses is that it is a proven fact that people prefer to ride rail versus buses. However, if it comes down to basic needs, believe me, people will ride buses.
The West was developed around train systems. At the time it made sense. There was nothing but wide open spaces and towns built up around train stations. Now we have existing cities with transportation infrastructure that we are struggling to finance, yet we our elected leaders wants to build new infrastructure that costs more and solves the transportation needs of very few. It's ridiculous.
Hey Mario:
Glad to hear you're a fan of mass transit (okay, I'm skipping to the singular point of agreement in a vast forest of disagreement here), and hope to see you on the Rail Runner one of these days.
I can tell you that the rush hour trains are swamped right now, and on my last trip I counted nine bicycles lined up next to mine inside the rail car.
Rail Runner + Bike = No Need to take bus. And that's important because I'm definitely one of those who avoids ABQRide even if it means being hot, sweaty, stinky and bike-helmet haired in front of my classes this upcoming semester.
Bring on the $6 gas...
I think I should make one other point about the Rail Runner that has been overlooked and yes I am breaking this down to the most simplistic terms. As a State Rep I sat on the House Appropriations Committee and know that for years you could break down the State Budget as follows:
47% K-12 Education
13% Higher Education
40% All other State Agencies
Last year was much different mostly due to the Rail Runner and Department of Transportation needs.
42% K-12 Education
12% Higher Education
46% All other State Agencies
And here I thought King Richardson first priority was education.
You may not have a problem with mass transit but you surely have a problem with math.
If we could get just half that peak number daily the total would 912,000 rodes a year.
And if just 1/4th were different riders that would be over 200,000 people using the service a year.
Thats a lot of cars off the road!
Buy the way - how much did the Big I cost? Who says your automobile transportation is not subsidized??
I never drive on Girard, therefore I think I shouldn't have to pay taxes! And for that matter, I don't use the convention center!
Come on, this is the dumbest argument you can ever make against this.
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