Christian Gooden | Post-Dispatch
For steep cuts in mass transit even as ridership grows.
The condition is not unique to this region, but that’s small comfort to those who rely on publc transportation and whose lives soon will become much more complicated.
Eddie Roth writes about education, social justice, public safety, transportation, legal affairs and historic preservation. He joined the Post-Dispatch editorial page in 2008 after six years as an editorial writer with the Dayton Daily News. But he is not new to St. Louis. Eddie grew up in Webster Groves and south St. Louis County. He's a lawyer who for many years practiced with a downtown firm, and was active in civic affairs, including serving a term on the St. Louis Police Board. He and his wife, Jeanne, and their three daughters, Emily, Julia and Alice, live in the Shaw Neighborhood.
When it comes to community organizing, he endorses Quentin Crisp's advice: Rather than keeping up with the Joneses, it's better to pull them down to your level.
Nice half-told story in the Times. Yes, it is true, ridership was up last year. So why the cuts? Are we just idiots, as Eddie and the New York Times imply? Or is there more to the story?
* Even with growing ridership, transit still serves a tiny minority of residents of the region. I-270 at 40 carries three times the traffic of the entire Metrolink system.
* Our transit system has been poorly managed. Voters need to see a track record of responsibility before devoting more resources to the agency.
The Times story focuses on employees of a nursing home in Chesterfield. These workers are too poor to own cars, so they depend on transit. Somehow, this is OUR fault, and not the fault of the nursing home which pays employees so little. Here’s a suggestion: If the nursing home doesn’t want to pay employees enough so they can afford a car, they can provide a shuttle from the Ballas transit center. Bringing employees to far flung suburbs is an inefficient use of transit, and of our public dollars.
Wow Nick, are you kidding me? How thick are you? Yes, I-270 and 40 carries 3X the traffic Metrolink does, and yes many people are too poor to afford cars. This is why metropolitan areas build mass transit systems, to solve these PROBLEMS!! Can you seriously look at the enrgy situation in this country and advocate more cars? And to blame these people for being too poor? Or tell the nursing home to build money for transport into their operating costs? Under your theory McDonalds etc all should have private shuttle buses running across the metro area?
I agree that there has been mismanagemnt of the system, so you get new leadership…Why on earth would you ever think that cutting service is the way to go about things?
To answer your question, yes, the NYT is correct in assuming that this is a metro area full of idiots. The reason they think that? Shortsighted selfish people like you. This region needs to get over its addiction to cars, get over the fear of the black man riding the trains to their safehavens, and get over being so cheap that they can’t support a half cent sales tax increase. Did you notice the article mentioned we were one of the only cities to not support increased public transit funding? You think any metro systems nationwide are fun efficiently? Most are running in the red! It’s not a business, it’s a public service. And its a public service that, yes, YOU should contribute to. Do you drive your car on all the roads your tax dollars fund? Do you read all the library books your tax dollars fund? Do your kids go to private school even though you fund public schools?
Get a grip on reality! You ask is it OUR fault those workers are too poor. No, its not. But it is YOUR obligation, as it is everyones, to support public works projects. This is why this never should have come down to a popular vote, because people like you don’t care about the collective good. This is what happens when we let the animals run the zoo…
I think Steve Patterson really hits the nail on the head with this analysis (especially the map): http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=4282 . It’s hard to get the monolithic “St. Louis County” to pay for something when many of the residents wouldn’t benefit from it. A more regional approach would probably work better.
Deaus:
“Get a grip on reality! You ask is it OUR fault those workers are too poor. No, its not. But it is YOUR obligation, as it is everyones, to support public works projects. This is why this never should have come down to a popular vote, because people like you don’t care about the collective good. This is what happens when we let the animals run the zoo.”
If you expect me to spend money with out a say-so in how it’s done, you are sorely mistaken. You also are a little off in “people like you don’t care about the collective good.” I care about the collective good, and am all for my tax dollars supporting productive means to a beneficial end — mass transit, zoo, museums, parks, police/fire protection. I am, unfortunately, all against tax dollars supporting UNproductive, inefficent means.
There are a lot of things that need attention here. How to serve the entire St. Louis metro area (Steve Patterson did a great job in laying that out — thanks Adam!) and not just the area inside I-170/270. Folks won’t support something that they don’t see the benefits from. And charatable giving goes to charites (United Way), not government agencies. That’s not the result of bad people, just good sound judgment and getting the biggest bang for the buck. Or, in this case, “more miles per dollar.”
Final thought, Deaus. I would really, really rethink your mental approach to this. Your comment smacks heavily of elitism in philosophy and intelligence. And, despite your dreams and wishes, if Metro uses tax dollars for any proposal, it’ll come down to a popular vote. Not just of a select few, but of all of us. Including Nick and myself. Do a better job of convincing, persuading me to part with my hard earned dollars, and you might get a few. Stay on that course, and we’ll all be walking.