I know, it makes no sense to cut bus routes at a time when people need them the most. But this is what happens when our brilliant leaders in Washington decide to cut federal funds. Metro budget is tight all around–and now some idiots running for president want to push a “gas tax holiday” which will only take more transportation funds away. Makes zero sense.

MTA is crappy enough in this city as it is. The very LAST thing we need to do is cut bus routes.

The bus route problem is simply a matter of supply and demand. The MTA cost per person to ride is significantly more than what they bring in through riders paying. The reason is that not that many people take the bus. I rarely see a MTA bus that is more than 1/4 full.

Unless they can find a more efficient way of running the bus system it’s either higher taxes or less bus routes. We simply can’t afford it.

Um, excuse me, this problem is strictly local. Other localities levy taxes to pay for transit systems. Of course, other localities also encourage people to start using public transit at times like this, when a lot more drivers need just a little more incentive to switch, by increasing service and/or lowering fares. It works like a charm, and the increase in riders pays for itself. Everything about the way Nashville public transportation ‘works’ is backwards, in my experience.

Tman, I’ve been on Nashville buses several times in the past few weeks on which people had to stand. I agree that the particular system is rather inefficient, though.

It’s SRO every weekday on the bus I take to work. When I bus home, it’s SRO about 4 out of 5 days.

I guess I’m looking at the wrong busses. I just read that last year had the highest amount of ticketed passengers, so obviously they are more packed than I realized.

The problem here is that MTA currently gets a $20 million subsidy from Metro to operate, and they are around $2.4 million short. Simply put, the system as it is running right now is becoming less and less efficient. This is mainly due to gas prices, but the fact is that if people paid more to ride the bus, then there wouldn’t be as much of a budget shortfall.

[…] Rachel Walden is scared that the Metro Transit Authority’s public hearings next week may mean she has to find a new way to work:  They note that “rising diesel fuel and operating costs” are behind the possible changes, but I’m guessing these changes come at a particularly bad time for many riders - the buses I ride have been fuller every week. […]

The bus route problem is simply a matter of supply and demand.

No, not really. There’s more to it than that. Demand is affected by a lot of other things: convenience, bus routes, schedules, etc. It can take you two hours to go 5 miles with our sucky MTA routes. Try getting to and from work on that. Cutting schedules only makes that worse.

Right now MTA can only be as successful as what’s invested in it to make sure it’s workable. I wonder when was the last time they did a user survey? Because the routes and the schedules are not user friendly. They certainly haven’t kept up with development trends. For instance, is there a bus stop at the new Hill Center?

The problem here is that MTA currently gets a $20 million subsidy from Metro to operate, and they are around $2.4 million short.

I don’t know all the numbers but I read that and then was reminded that TDOT is closing parts of I-40 in Knoxville for over a year to widen the Interstate to the tune of $275 million. Meanwhile, we’re building I-840 through East Jesus at a cost of how many millions?

I wonder if they couldn’t spare a million or two to help the state capitol’s MTA budget. Seems like TDOT has all the funds they need to build roads through nowhere.

Demand is affected by a lot of other things: convenience, bus routes, schedules, etc. It can take you two hours to go 5 miles with our sucky MTA routes. Try getting to and from work on that. Cutting schedules only makes that worse

That only supports my argument. The MTA does not have the demand necessary to to supply it with more convenient direct routes. Even with certain routes packed to capacity for the few times a day it is, there are many other routes that are empty much of the time. The fact is that there is not the demand for increasing the supply. I’m sure that YOU might want to have a more direct and convenient route, but unless you are willing to spend several hundred dollars a ride, I’m’ not sure MTA can afford it.

It can take you two hours to go 5 miles with our sucky MTA routes

It beats walking though, right?

Try getting to and from work on that.

It’s doable. Maybe not efficient and convenient, but hey, it’s a bus not a limo.

Right now MTA can only be as successful as what’s invested in it to make sure it’s workable.

Which is what I was saying. The amount people pay for the bus ride does not support the MTA enough even WITH a $20 million subsidy. Raise the rates to $2 a ride and suddenly MTA can afford more routes.

TDOT is closing parts of I-40 in Knoxville for over a year to widen the Interstate to the tune of $275 million. Meanwhile, we’re building I-840 through East Jesus at a cost of how many millions?

There’s a world of difference between metro and state budgets. Why should people who live in Knoxville’s counties pay for Metros bus system?

On a somewhat related note, here is an essay by humorist PJ O’Rourke on the 2004 Federal highway spending bill-

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006428

It is of course hilarious, but this statistic always just amazed me-

The Heritage Foundation says, “There isn’t a single light rail transit system in America in which fares paid by the passengers cover the cost of their own rides.” Heritage cites the Minneapolis “Hiawatha” light rail line, soon to be completed with $107 million from the transportation bill. Heritage estimates that the total expense for each ride on the Hiawatha will be $19. Commuting to work will cost $8,550 a year. If the commuter is earning minimum wage, this leaves about $1,000 a year for food, shelter and clothing. Or, if the city picks up the tab, it could have leased a BMW X-5 SUV for the commuter at about the same price.

We don’t want minimum-wage workers driving BMW X-5s. That’s unfair. They’re already poor, and now they’re enemies of the environment? So we must find a way to save mass transit–get people to ride it, be eager to pay for it, no matter what the cold-blooded free-market types at Heritage say. We must do it for the sake of future generations, for our children.

Tman,

Yeah, it’s “doable”, a lot of things are “doable”, man, especially when it’s someone else doin’ it.

a lot of things are “doable”, man, especially when it’s someone else doin’ it.

Dood, I like totally didn’t have a car for most of my life, man. I can like, completely GET YOU MAN, like, when it comes to the public transportation thing. Like, you know?

Totally.

(The more coherent response is that yes, I know what a pain in the ass it is to take the bus to work, especially when you have to leave several hours earlier than other folks just so you can get there on time. Cry me a river.)

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