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New York City’s subway and bus service is already in crisis. It could be getting worse. And more expensive.
Officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) warned last week that without a major infusion of cash, they will have to drastically cut service or increase fares on the system that carries millions of New Yorkers around the city.
[...] The system’s financial straits have gotten worse in part because it has fewer riders, and is collecting less money in fares. Expected passenger revenue over a five-year period has dropped by $485m since July.
“They’ve entered this death spiral,” said Benjamin Kabak, who runs the transit website Second Avenue Sagas. “The subway service and the bus service has become unreliable enough for people to stop using it. If people aren’t using it, there’s less money, and they have to keep raising fares without delivering better service.”
Bike-sharing and ride-hailing apps have emerged as alternatives for commuters. Is mass transit finding itself in a valley of death between those who are price-conscious and those who want maximum convenience?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday November 21 2018, @01:32PM
If you live in the burbs its a 20 minute drive to the basketball court instead of a walk. Sportsball is very boomer and to some extent cities are boomer playgrounds, so theres not much to do if you're not a boomer or the traditional drunken college student.
In the burbs you spend time with your kids attending schools that don't suck. I'm a 20 minute drive from a world class urban museum, but I only go every couple years because frankly I have a life and the kids are always doing something, so I spent last Sunday at my daughter's school's bowling tournament rather than a museum. I think I got the better deal.
In the burbs your wife or daughter can walk around the block, just like the city, but without being robbed and raped.
Its overall pretty nice other than the seemingly infinite demand from people escaping the city making prices crazy high. There's plenty of really cheap places to live in the city where people will pay anything and do anything to escape. Burbs not so much, thats an aspiration not an escape.
Note that I'm also 20 minutes away from local, county and state parks, and closer to national parks.
Basically imagine the urban experience except you drive and there's no crime mixed with being minutes away from the rural experience.