MARTA considers 50-Cent Fare Hike (Atlanta: how much, maintenance, tax)

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by society619

I didn't have a problem for the 2.50 raise on basic fare but $96 for a monthly pass?????

Are you on crack??

I think $70 is reasonable. When is MARTA going to realize that bleeding their customers isn't going to solve their money issues?

Assuming you rode it 20 round trips per month, that is $100. So seems like $96 is reasonable. If someone isn't going to ride it that much, they can do the math and pay per ride. No one is making them purchase a monthly pass. What the devil has crack got to do with second grade math?

[muxBuppie]

Charging for parking is dumb too for Marta. Why not just keep driving to your destination anyway?

[Febtober]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Assuming you rode it 20 round trips per month, that is $100. So seems like $96 is reasonable. If someone isn't going to ride it that much, they can do the math and pay per ride. No one is making them purchase a monthly pass. What the devil has crack got to do with second grade math?

Yeah seriously. He or she is okay with a rate hike to $2.50, but not a corresponding hike in the monthly pass? Monthly passes are typically around the equivalent cost of riding twice a day, five days a week. How you can be okay with a single ride hike and not a related monthly hike is beyond me.

Originally Posted by muxBuppie

Charging for parking is dumb too for Marta. Why not just keep driving to your destination anyway?

Because many people may live significantly closer to a MARTA station than to their ultimate destination? Charging for providing a service! What silliness is this?!

[DeaconJ]

I think that many people are willing to pay a little more to drive rather than ride mass transit because of the extra convenience that comes with driving. It's worth the extra money to have the efficiency of your own vehicle.

[AnsleyPark]

Yup. And those folks won't take Marta until the cost of fuel outweighs the convenience of their car.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by muxBuppie

Charging for parking is dumb too for Marta. Why not just keep driving to your destination anyway?

Charging for parking is dumb? How in heck do you expect MARTA to stay in business? How about if they didn't charge at all? Then they'd go out of business. Just contemplate that. Of course charging for parking isn't dumb, unless you want the taxpayers to pay for that, too, completely.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Yup. And those folks won't take Marta until the cost of fuel outweighs the convenience of their car.

...or, until mass transit is made so convenient that the advantages of driving are minimized. I doubt either is coming anytime soon.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

...or, until mass transit is made so convenient that the advantages of driving are minimized. I doubt either is coming anytime soon.

Unfortunately, I think you are right. I'd prefer it be the later than the former. Just don't think that our economy will ever be able to support such a massive public works program.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Febtober

Don't forget that here in New York City, the MTA also owns and operates the bridges and tunnels (except the Port Authority state crossings), so they still make money off you whether you take the subway or drive. Most of their bridge crossings nowadays are $6.50 each way (a little less with ez-pass.)

You should have seen the public outcry up here last year when the MTA went from $2.00 to $2.25 (I think those were the figures) for a single subway ride. If you read the NY Post you would have thought that Bloomberg was personally walking into people's apartments and taking money out of their child's piggy banks. Of course if you read the NY Post you likely also need help putting your shoes on the proper feet in the morning and enjoy headlines where the letter S has cleverly been replaced with $...

NYC has a sales tax dedicated to the MTA that is part of an almost 9% sales tax, on top of a city income tax and state income tax. When you combine the two income taxes, the percentage of local income taxes for many NYC residents is over 10%. Then and as you indicated the TBTA collects a ton of tolls at tunnels and bridges, and the subway and bus fare is still higher than MARTA. Up until recently, NYC still had "two fare zones" in Queens and other areas where there were no free transfers between bus and subway.

[muxBuppie]

You guys are acting nuts. If I have to pay $5 to park and $5 to ride I might as well drive. Gas is high but $10 still gives me more then enough gas to make a trip somewhere then have the convience of driving. You guys are trying to create a transit system for the rich or just the novelty using "you gotta pay for a service "as the excuse. Good luck pricing people out of transit.