kennedy
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 2,820
- Reaction score
- 7
The St. Louis Metro system was just recently given funding through a voter referendum, raising the sales tax in Greater St. Louis by something like 0.05%. Metro now has a dedicated, taxpayer supported source of funding on top of it's (measly) fare revenues. I don't particularly like the solution, but at least it works. Perhaps a Gas Tax would have been a better idea.
I think that, especially in Boston where ridership is so high, that a mass transit system shouldn't need a lot of taxpayer of federal funding. I think creative marketing, adjusting fares, and greater involvement of the private sector could help minimize this.
Fare Adjustments: CharlieCards are a good start - incentivizing people to pay for weekly, monthly, or yearly passses is a good way to bring in extra funds. I'd like to see an unlimited yearly, or half-yearly option - perhaps somewhere in the $300-350 ball park for six months. I woudn't mind an increase in Charlie Ticket fares - up to $2.50, maybe even $3.00.
Private Involvement: Allow businesses to lease space in the stations - they're already got this in the bigger ones, but it seems pretty poorly run. A nice, clean, bright Dunkin Donuts in every station would make the T money, and the owner money.
Trim waste: We all know what a burden the union is, what with all the pensions and guaranteed positions. The contracts need to be renegotiated and redundancies need to be eliminated.
I think that, especially in Boston where ridership is so high, that a mass transit system shouldn't need a lot of taxpayer of federal funding. I think creative marketing, adjusting fares, and greater involvement of the private sector could help minimize this.
Fare Adjustments: CharlieCards are a good start - incentivizing people to pay for weekly, monthly, or yearly passses is a good way to bring in extra funds. I'd like to see an unlimited yearly, or half-yearly option - perhaps somewhere in the $300-350 ball park for six months. I woudn't mind an increase in Charlie Ticket fares - up to $2.50, maybe even $3.00.
Private Involvement: Allow businesses to lease space in the stations - they're already got this in the bigger ones, but it seems pretty poorly run. A nice, clean, bright Dunkin Donuts in every station would make the T money, and the owner money.
Trim waste: We all know what a burden the union is, what with all the pensions and guaranteed positions. The contracts need to be renegotiated and redundancies need to be eliminated.