Our light rail transit system has been voicing its confusion over what to do in the aftermath of the defeat of Proposition M.

While most people I know had hoped Prop M would pass, the big problem is that the transit agency has done much damage to its reputation by mismanagement and law suits that threw good money after bad.

Great cities have great transportation systems. The transit story here is reasonable for light rail -- trains run at least every 20 minutes most of the time. Busses? They run once an hour, which can't do most people much good except for the planned commute. They have bike racks for two bikes and if the rack is full, you are supposed to wait an hour for the next bus, hoping its bike rack would have more room.

It's pretty clear to me that Metro Link has been more successful than most of us thought it would be. I see into the trains as they go by Wash. U., and there are people riding Metro Link all day long.

Because of Metro Link's Prop M not passing, the transit agency is threatening to do a number of things, such as cut off light rail service after 8 PM (so much for taking the train to hockey or baseball games),

That's really likely to raise excitement and support for light rail.

Can't the ticket price be raised 25 cents? Can't other sources of city/county funding be tapped? If we are in a building slump now it should be cheaper to expand metro link today than it would have been a year ago.

Everyone is so quick to say that systems like Metro Link operate at a loss. What they don't take into account is the cost we must pay to build more roads to accommodate commuters who would not have a light rail system. Or the health cost of the bad air we experience with more cars on the road.

Posted by: Lywhentineken at December 2, 2008 6:26 PM

Posted by: Matt Davey at January 3, 2009 12:24 AM