Public Transit Is Underfunded Because the Wealthy Don’t Rely on It

[kristopher]

Public Transit Is Underfunded Because the Wealthy Don’t Rely on It
BY KEITH BARRY12.16.136:30 AM

<snip>

...“Since the dominant benefit is travel time savings,” the study’s authors wrote, “the majority of benefits tend to accrue to the strata most represented by BRT users — typically lower- and middle-income.”

While it’s great to have a system that improves transportation access for the majority of a city’s population, BRT’s mass appeal could — ironically — be a political concern that prevents its adoption, at least in the U.S. As Alex Pareene wrote in Salon, public transit often suffers because politicians and donors rarely rely on it. The results show in the states, whose existing BRT systems lag behind those in cities around the world.

Even in densely populated and traditionally liberal cities like New York and Minneapolis, politicians neglect transit. And “because they don’t know or interact with or receive checks from people who rely on it every day, there’s almost no hope for cheap, efficient mass transit options anywhere,” Pareene wrote.

Indeed, the Embarq report echoes the public transit wealth gap, and cites that most BRT systems are often paid for by tax revenue collected from those who may never ride it. Bogota’s famed TransMilenio was financed by increased gasoline taxes, and all the systems required both substantial investment and support from municipalities.

...

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/12/brt-middle-class/


Link to study:
http://www.embarq.org/sites/default/files/Social-Environmental-Economic-Impacts-BRT-Bus-Rapid-Transit-EMBARQ.pdf

[SheilaT]

1. Even a lot of non wealthy people don't use public transportation.

I've heard ordinary middle class people say they would NEVER give up their car or ride a bus or a subway.

I love good public transportation. I currently live in Santa Fe, and while they do have a bus system it's not very good or convenient, in large part because the population here is relatively small. I will eventually move somewhere else that has good public transportation, because I don't want to be trying to drive a car when I'm 90 and my skills are not as good as I'd like to think. Plus I won't want to hassle with the expense and upkeep.

[Redfairen]

4. This is especially true in smaller cities

I live in a moderate-sized city with absurdly inadequate public transit. It would be a real breakthrough if we could get even a few percent of the population to use it. I doubt that will ever happen except in the biggest towns.

[Nihil]

2. The way to get public transport taken seriously ...

... is to mandate that the country's politicians *have* to use it at all times.

(And pay for it out of their post-tax salary like everyone else has to!)

[kristopher]

3. That would seem to be the lesson of the OP

There's another aspect at play in Japan where nearly all employers pay the transportation expenses for employees.

I can't say what came first, the obligation or the transportation system; but moving to more routine use of automobiles is certainly dis-incentivized for both parties.