924 Mass transit, 35 years later

P.J. O'Rourke wrote about mass transit hysteria in the Wall Street 2 days ago, and as usual, was funny until he got ridiculous.

He reported some number crunching on Minneapolis' "Hiawatha" light rail: "The Heritage Foundation says, "There isn't a single light rail transit system in America in which fares paid by the passengers cover the cost of their own rides." Heritage cites the Minneapolis "Hiawatha" light rail line, soon to be completed with $107 million from the transportation bill. Heritage estimates that the total expense for each ride on the Hiawatha will be $19. Commuting to work will cost $8,550 a year. If the commuter is earning minimum wage, this leaves about $1,000 a year for food, shelter and clothing. Or, if the city picks up the tab, it could have leased a BMW X-5 SUV for the commuter at about the same price."

Then he goes on to say this would be unfair to the poor, who would then be contributing to environmental destruction by driving SUVs. A good point on cost, but stomping it to death.

Two of the earliest neighborhood meetings I attended in 1968 when I was a new homeowner and young mother were about 1) the need for mass transit (actually decent bus service with more lines) in Columbus, and 2) need for a teen center in our suburb (our daughter was 6 months old). We had focus groups, neighborhood meetings, ballots, time and again. Many, many years later and we have neither. People really didn't want them.

I really wish we had decent bus service--convenient, timely and cost effective. I live about two miles from the agriculture campus of Ohio State, but I could walk (not jog) there faster than I could take the bus (which stops literally at my door), then transfer when I arrive downtown to another bus up High Street to the OSU campus, where I would transfer to a campus bus to ride to the west side. I'm guessing it would take about 1.5 to 2 hours. And that's the problem. In our spread out metropolitan areas, there is no convenient way to get from point A to B with light rail, bus or trolley for everyone who needs to get to work, school, shopping or church.

I'd much rather throw my support to train service between cities, so I didn't have to park in Toledo in order to catch a train to Chicago or New York.