U.S. cities scrambling to meet rising mass transit demands (Atlanta: sales, sales tax)

[chip1980]

U.S. cities scrambling to meet rising mass transit demands - CNN.com

[wxjay]

I love how the photo is out of Atlanta (MARTA), yet that is one of the worst examples for public transit use in terms of the metro area "embracing" it as an alternative, particularly with the recent no vote from Gwinnett.

[BobKovacs]

And if you read the article, you'll find the reason that trying to fund a brand new system based on a sales tax won't fly:

"Cal Marsella, the head of Denver, Colorado's transit system, calls it the "paradox of public transportation."

Denver's system, like many U.S. cities, is partly funded by revenues from sales taxes. As consumers spend less because of high fuel costs and a sour economy, the city earns less revenue. Consequently, funding for the transit system is decreasing just when their operating costs are higher than ever before.

"Just when our demand is highest, our ability to provide is being undermined by the whole crunch," Marsella said. "The last thing we want to do is curtail service but there is not a lot you can do when revenues are down and fuel prices are up." "

These are existing systems that just need to add trains, and they can't accomodate the increased load because of declining sales tax revenue- imagine trying to fund an entire new system off of that sales tax now. Yet, ask the users of the pay a higher portion of the operating costs (through higher ticket prices) and you get rioting over how "unfair the price hikes are".