Ease and dependability of public transit in San Diego (apartments, how much)

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

So I should take public transit so the city can save money on maintaining parking lots?

There are a number of reasons we should promote public transit. Reducing wear and tear on our infrastructure (roads) is definitely one of them. Also, we're not talking about "forcing". Rather "encouraging".

It's really interesting how "socially-engineered" Americans are into thinking cars and the associated infrastructure is anything but a massive money pit. It's not financially sustainable.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

There are a number of reasons we should promote public transit. Reducing wear and tear on our infrastructure (roads) is definitely one of them. Also, we're not talking about "forcing". Rather "encouraging".

It's really interesting how "socially-engineered" Americans are into thinking cars and the associated infrastructure is anything but a massive money pit. It's not financially sustainable.

I’m sure you realize how much public transportation is subsidized. Not one system in the US makes one cent profit, and the loss per passenger trip is anywhere from $1-$6. In 2016 San Diego was at -$2.50 per rider, per trip. Obviously this could change with more riders, but even NYC operates in the red. Let’s not pretend only cars/roads are a strain on our tax dollars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farebox_recovery_ratio

[lostsoul359]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

I’m sure you realize how much public transportation is subsidized. Not one system in the US makes one cent profit, and the loss per passenger trip is anywhere from $1-$6. In 2016 San Diego was at -$2.50 per rider, per trip. Obviously this could change with more riders, but even NYC operates in the red. Let’s not pretend only cars/roads are a strain on our tax dollars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farebox_recovery_ratio

I found something worth a glance:


https://sandag.org/uploads/publicati...1550_12607.pdf

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

I’m sure you realize how much public transportation is subsidized. Not one system in the US makes one cent profit, and the loss per passenger trip is anywhere from $1-$6. In 2016 San Diego was at -$2.50 per rider, per trip. Obviously this could change with more riders, but even NYC operates in the red. Let’s not pretend only cars/roads are a strain on our tax dollars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farebox_recovery_ratio

First off, the notion that non-automobile modes need to make a profit is dumb. Road infrastructure is a money pit in itself, far more than any transit system. The cost to society of driving is far higher than any mode. It doesn't take a genius to realize that single occupancy vehicles on sprawling road networks are inefficient uses of resources and require significant subsidy.

https://www.citylab.com/transportati...-chart/389805/

Secondly, transit is the only form of transportation that has ever been profitable in the U.S. It was killed off when our federal, state, and local governments decided to invest in massive road networks. Transit companies went out of business because of government intervention in the mobility market.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

I’m sure you realize how much public transportation is subsidized. Not one system in the US makes one cent profit, and the loss per passenger trip is anywhere from $1-$6. In 2016 San Diego was at -$2.50 per rider, per trip. Obviously this could change with more riders, but even NYC operates in the red. Let’s not pretend only cars/roads are a strain on our tax dollars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farebox_recovery_ratio

Random fact- the blue line has the highest farebox recovery ratio of all light rail lines in the country: 81%

Pretty impressive.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

First off, the notion that non-automobile modes need to make a profit is dumb. Road infrastructure is a money pit in itself, far more than any transit system. The cost to society of driving is far higher than any mode. It doesn't take a genius to realize that single occupancy vehicles on sprawling road networks are inefficient uses of resources and require significant subsidy.

https://www.citylab.com/transportati...-chart/389805/

Secondly, transit is the only form of transportation that has ever been profitable in the U.S. It was killed off when our federal, state, and local governments decided to invest in massive road networks. Transit companies went out of business because of government intervention in the mobility market.

I never said they need to make a profit, I just pointed out they’re a money pit as well.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

Random fact- the blue line has the highest farebox recovery ratio of all light rail lines in the country: 81%

Pretty impressive.

I won’t dispute if that’s true or not, but operating at a 19% loss isn’t very impressive. Sift through the 43 pages lostsoul359 posted and you’ll see it’s much worse across the board at the MTS.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

It's an average by AAA. You paid $200 per month for the cost of the car (initial price + maintenance), gas, parking, and insurance? Sorry not buying it. And even if you did, I'm using a published national average.

(edit: how long will you own your car? divide that by months and anticipated maintenance and you'll get way about $200) Not to mention the opportunity cost of investing in a depreciating asset...

Also parking is not "free". It costs money to maintain city streets and it's a huge expense to cities. Literally one of the largest drains on the budget. Driving is literally the most subsidized aspect of American life.

By whom? I rode my bicycle to work and back for 5 years back when gas was 5 bucks a gallon. I still had my truck just barely drove it. I guess I was one of those fools subsidizing everything for everyone else? I still paid gas taxes and car registration taxes to maintain roads.

Without roads how do we get most of our daily food and other needs delivered? Even by boat, plane or truck it has to get delivered by road.

By car my commute is 10 min, by bike it's an hour by any form of transit it's over 2 hours.

Promoting telecommuting makes much more sense but most business owners like to be able to pat their employees on the head multiple times a day.

2 plus hours to get to work or ten minutes? That's pretty damn easy math huh.

[tstieber]

Telecommuting is the best commuting. We work from home and so have zero commute, which creates zero traffic, zero pollution, and uses no fossil fuels. However, we take the car for leisure, as we live way too far into suburban San Diego to even consider public transit. Some areas simply aren't served by it, and it would be impractical to do so given the population density and distance. Public transportation is important, short commutes are important, Urban walkability is important, and roads are important. It's never all-or-nothing but a mix that we need.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Telecommuting is the best commuting. We work from home and so have zero commute, which creates zero traffic, zero pollution, and uses no fossil fuels. However, we take the car for leisure, as we live way too far into suburban San Diego to even consider public transit. Some areas simply aren't served by it, and it would be impractical to do so given the population density and distance. Public transportation is important, short commutes are important, Urban walkability is important, and roads are important. It's never all-or-nothing but a mix that we need.

Yes, great post. Multi-modal transportation networks are needed.