Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Memetrics
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojkt
Rep. Connolly was on WTOP this morning saying that those responsible for the failures at Metro need to be held accountable. I started my day with a laugh and thought you might get chuckle out of that too.
For those unfamiliar, see NPR
Also, if you are visiting the DC area, do not use Metro. It is not safe. It will never be safe.
Filed under: Economy |
All Things in Moderation 
Unsafe mechanically or because of assaults, robberies, and the like?
I have unused Metro dollars from my last trip and Rosanne and I are attending a wedding in DC in June. Flying into BWI, and probably meeting friends for lunch. Planned on using my tix to get around.
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both. they’ve found some serious problems yesterday
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metros-safety-check-spots-severe-cable-damage-in-3-areas/2016/03/16/9130a878-eba4-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html?hpid=hp_local-news_metroshutdown-10pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
and there have been some fairly high profile crime cases.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/with-robberies-on-metro-increasing-some-riders-worry-for-their-safety/2016/01/09/cc92de90-b549-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html
yello might have a different opinion, but i’ve stopped recommending the system.
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I used the Metro for the first time in months last Saturday. I was on the Orange/Blue/Silver line that is the subject of all these safety concerns. If I had known that three days later they would shut down the whole system out of fear of it exploding I might have had second thoughts.
The DC Metro has a LOT of shortcomings which I would be glad to enumerate at length when I have time. I actually probably use the New York MTA more often than the DC system. Despite its age and other problems I find it reliable and cost effective.
I am a big fan of urban mass transit but there are a lot of parameters which need to mesh up for it to be effective. And while, like any public good, it almost always requires taxpayer subsidies, there do need to be economic viability considerations.
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yello:
And while, like any public good…
Mass transit is not a public good.
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I suppose it depends. I found the Tube in London to be a frickin’ public AWESOME. At least for a tourist.
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metro needs to either be an urban subway or a commuter light rail. it’s trying to be both and failing
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I use the Red Line all the time (and, in fact, used it on Monday to meet up with Mike Teng for dinner). I’ve never had a problem, but I always ride off-peak.
YMMV
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Compared to the NY subway, Metro is a beautiful system… NYC gets muggings, and drivers who crash while sleeping, texting, or going too fast…
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Of course for progressives, the worst thing about the Metro shutdown is that it may make Uber more popular:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/03/16/washington_d_c_subway_shutdown_is_good_for_uber_and_lyft_but_bad_for_commuters.html
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Why does the left have this fetish for trains? We have dirt-cheap airfare in this country and the left is still dying to have a European-style high speed rail system that won’t be able to compete price-wise without massive subsidies.
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You just answered your own question.
Plus, lefties love to use the power of the state to force people to do things.
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it can only go to places the planners deem worthy and on their timetable.
my car is the exact opposite.
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To a lefty, all futures without mass transit turn into P.J. O’Rourke’s Just One of Those Days.
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jnc (from the link):
At the same time, it threatens us with a more dystopian tomorrow in which municipal transportation options crumble as private-sector ones thrive.
Proof that the worst caricature of progressivism can't outdo reality…a "thriving" private sector represents a "dystopian" future.
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Free Dumb!!!!
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This train discussion is over simplified. Obviously, urban trains where there are none are ridiculously costly as a capital expenditure, but where the infrastructure exists, it ought not be wasted.
NoVa, I agree about the POTENTIAL convenience of my car. But roads and signals that can handle the traffic are part of the municipal transit infrastructure and if they are inadequate you don’t actually have much option but to schedule hours on the road. In LA it is better to live where you work and only date women in your neighborhood because you can’t get anywhere else in a reasonable time. Austin is getting there, too.
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this is a fair point. Mrs. NoVa jokes she must have really like me to fight traffic on the beltway to see me on Friday night.
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There are people who refuse to date people who are geographically undesirable. Although that is a a attribute which is easily changeable given sufficient motivation.
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“Disconcertingly, among these are companies whose implicit goals include competing with if not outright replacing our municipal transit systems with cheap substitutes. As these alternatives become cheaper for paying commuters, ”
This is incoherent. Disconcertingly, the end of an expensive and ineffective system may end up with less expensive ways for commuters to get where they want to go more efficiently. This is disconcerting? Look, I’ve been wanting Disneyworld to add several miles of monorail to Walt Disney World for years, but there’s a reason they haven’t. It’s not the most effective mode of transport . . . at all. If they don’t want to add miles to the monorail, which was supposed to be a utopian proof-of-concept of how awesome rail is, it tells you that when it comes down to it . . . mass transit do will in a cost vs. benefits analysis.
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KW:
This is incoherent.
Not if you assume the speaker values government for its own sake.
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I guess. Although why one would do such is the question. When there are cheaper alternatives, the citizens benefit. Collectively.
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“As these alternatives become cheaper for paying commuters”
Not if your primary concern is non-paying commuters, i.e. the poor.
The subtext is that if you let people choose to do what they want and they choose Uber and Lyft over public transportation, i.e the Metro, then it reduces the effective subsidies and support for public transportation which hurts the poor.
Same argument about allowing parents to put their kids in private schools.
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