I think that it is you who is being "simplistic".
MUNI is rediculously cheap? I do not think so. Part of the success is
that the system is affordable.
What is really rediculously cheap in the city are the streets. I drive my
car for free on the streets. I can park for free. Why pays for this?
Everyone - whether they own a car or not. Until the real costs and
subsides given to cars are examined we can not properly evaluate the
benefits of MUNI to the city. It might be that it would be cheaper to give
everyone a free MUNI pass than to construct more roads and freeways. You
simply are not looking at transportation as an entire system.
Also, from the discussions I have had with "downtown" people is that the
issue is not so much paying - it's that with MUNI every bit of money given
to it seems to be sucked into a hole without any improvements in service.
I use the MUNI and I am constantly amazed at how badly it works - even
though many individual drivers seem to be trying to do their best.
Low fares for the poor are already being subsidized - in the form of the
"Disabled" pass. I am simply against the "soak it to the suit and computer
crowd" attitude. We need more of the attitude that every car we get off
the street benefits us all - in less pollution, less congestion, and a more
harmonious place to live.
Sorry for digging into you but I think that you are on the wrong track and
are not thinking about public transportation in a broad enough way.
Richard
----------
> From: "Donald F. Robertson" <donaldrf@hooked.net>
> Subject: Fare increases
> 001 - Marc Norton <nortonsf@ix. wrote
>
> > Clean out the riders pockets, and let downtown off scot-free...
> > Is this really what Rescue Muni has become?
>
> Both of these statements are simplistic, at best. As I've argued
> before, MUNI is rediculously cheap compared to other transit agencies,
> and we MUNI riders are certainly getting about what we pay for. There
> is no reason to keep MUNI cheap across the board. It makes far more
> sense to target low fares to the poor, than to subsidise the suit and
> computer crowd at the cost of bad service for everyone.
>