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Bad news for the people who live in rural areas - where income is already low.
I feel the solution is to improve mass transit. Some places it is really good, but a lot of places its spotty, hard to get to, difficult to plan a trip, and doesn't run reliably. If its easier to access, people will be far more likely to ride.
Part of "improving" would be making it easier for people to get their grocery shopping done. As it is now, this is a task that is extremely difficult to manage on a bus - especially if you have a small child you must deal with at the same time.
Or you can lower the cost of driving by redirecting federal and local money to where it's actually needed...
Transit gobbles up 20% of the money and only serves 2% of the passengers. If that 20% were instead spent on upgrading this nation's road network, you would save untold billions in times of time and gas not wasted stewing in traffic... as an environmental bonus you don't have millions of cars stewing in traffic jams, polluting, and not going anywhere.
Fact of the matter is, gasoline taxes, insurance hikes, and other methods meant to coerce (force) people into public transit solutions are all regressive in nature. They force the working man to pony up while the elite 1% can still afford to drive/find a loophole. It's always the middle and working classes that get screwed by high-minded "progressive" policies that are designed for the greater good... for your own good... so we're going to force you to do it.
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Let these urban planning professors hump it every day on a bus or train line... to work, to school, to the store, and to whenever they want to go. And I'd like to see how you can carry a trunk load of goodies with you on the bus. See if they're such advocates of public transit after dealing with that crap for six months.
(Oh, wait, you can't... that's what a car is for.)
Everybody I talk to rides public transit because they have to... never by choice. If they could, almost all of them would be driving.
Bad news for the people who live in rural areas - where income is already low.
I feel the solution is to improve mass transit. Some places it is really good, but a lot of places its spotty, hard to get to, difficult to plan a trip, and doesn't run reliably. If its easier to access, people will be far more likely to ride.
Part of "improving" would be making it easier for people to get their grocery shopping done. As it is now, this is a task that is extremely difficult to manage on a bus - especially if you have a small child you must deal with at the same time.
The beginning of the article was great until you get to the solution. Then class warfare begins. It's going to be the middle class and working class who pay the high costs of driving or the inconvenience of poor transit.
The rich would drive no matter what. Commuters are increasingly middle class who can't afford to live in the city. They will pay for the 1% to live fabulously insulated urban lives. There is also a dimension of racism in modern day progressivism. Mostly Latinos and African Americans pay a huge cost for the predominantly white elite class to masturbate with their childish self importance obsessions
Make no mistake. These professors themselves aren't the rich either.
Or you can lower the cost of driving by redirecting federal and local money to where it's actually needed...
Transit gobbles up 20% of the money and only serves 2% of the passengers. If that 20% were instead spent on upgrading this nation's road network, you would save untold billions in times of time and gas not wasted stewing in traffic... as an environmental bonus you don't have millions of cars stewing in traffic jams, polluting, and not going anywhere.
Fact of the matter is, gasoline taxes, insurance hikes, and other methods meant to coerce (force) people into public transit solutions are all regressive in nature. They force the working man to pony up while the elite 1% can still afford to drive/find a loophole. It's always the middle and working classes that get screwed by high-minded "progressive" policies that are designed for the greater good... for your own good... so we're going to force you to do it.
***
Let these urban planning professors hump it every day on a bus or train line... to work, to school, to the store, and to whenever they want to go. And I'd like to see how you can carry a trunk load of goodies with you on the bus. See if they're such advocates of public transit after dealing with that crap for six months.
(Oh, wait, you can't... that's what a car is for.)
Everybody I talk to rides public transit because they have to... never by choice. If they could, almost all of them would be driving.
Even in Chinese cities which often provide comprehensive transit options unseen in most of America, more and more middle class Chinese prefer to drive, despite enormous traffic jams.
The funny part of what progressive policies try to do here in the states is that they aren't going to make difference. China and India will largely cancel out any efforts in the west.
With a quaint, local, and largely nonprofit culture, especially we are going to face enormous international competitors. Americans will eventually have to face reality. Our loss of industrial prowess and economic output will make things much worse for us. You think Crimea is tough? We haven't seen anything yet.
I've always advocated for a huge hike to the gas tax. It is the easiest way to fund / repair / upgrade our roads, coerce people into smarter transportation choices, and reduce our carbon footprint.
Damn the economy. It needs to be done.
Driving currently is way too subsidized. Make drivers feel the real cost of driving.
I've always advocated for a huge hike to the gas tax. It is the easiest way to fund / repair / upgrade our roads, coerce people into smarter transportation choices, and reduce our carbon footprint.
Damn the economy. It needs to be done.
Driving currently is way too subsidized. Make drivers feel the real cost of driving.
In most parts of the country, driving is the only way. You are not going to get people to accept high gas tax.
Not to mention that high gas tax hurts the poor the most as they live way out. Transit is lousy in most cities. Around transit lines, new luxury condos emerge. Progressive politics is too costly to the poor.
Without a good transit system, people will have to pay more for gas and keep driving. Improving transit systems might work better. We are a long way from that kind of transit system. Given the ridership, transit funding is too much.
what they need to realize is it does sever many well. Also I coming years there wouldn't t be the grants to keep sharing cost as now. A nearby town is looking at this now since federal funds pay such a large portion and fares very little of cost. Breaks down like this according to the local government. cost last year 3.1 millon. 300 K fares with rest split between local and federal governments.They are looking at funding vouchers for taxi to those qualifying which is cheaper and has tax return.
Everybody I talk to rides public transit because they have to... never by choice. If they could, almost all of them would be driving.
You live in Dayton, OH. Of course people all want to drive there, but that isn't true with all real cities. There are tons of people that would rather not drive because it is a pain for parking and such. Dayton would be way behind the trends of real cities in the US.
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