drum118
Superstar
There is no such thing as free as someone or something has to pay for it.
If a business picks up the cost, they either use it as a tax right off, use some of their profit or past it on to their tenant in higher rent or in the the cost of the goods.
The developer of the condo's add the cost in to the selling price until the projects are completed. As all the unites are sold, the cost may get added to the maintenances cost. If so, that cost has to raise yearly and it could take a spike based on what MT charges. MT will or should be charging 110% of the full cost to operate this service. I am sure there would be quite a few owners request this cost be remove from their maintenances fees once the cost got high since they never use the system in the first place.
The city has made many mistakes and continue to make by adding these service when there will be no real increase of ridership in the first place.
There will be riders getting on at Sq One who will get off on Confederations once development takes place, but the bulk of the riders will be to Webb. Once the bus continue east of Webb, there will be next to no one on the bus as it will take a longer time to get to Sq One than catching the 61 or going over to Confederation and catching either the 6 or 28. Another block they can get the 26. The only riders who may still be on the bus is going to the hotel. Then they have the 3 and the 26 stopping less than a block away.
Again, the hotel may generate a few riders willing to spent time on a bus still going east before returning to Sq One, but not many as it would be faster to walk to Sq One than use the bus.
The only place the bus may pickup riders is on Robert Speck as it would be a quicker way to Sq One on your lunch time and assuming it meets your time.
What every I do, I cannot find the riders for this bus. I would be surprise if this bus has a cost ratio of 30% in a years time considering MT cost ratio system wide is 56% in the first place.
Doing the math at $365,000/yr, you need 136,247 rider using 56% recovery rate. That works out to be 374 riders a day or about 31 riders a hour. The ridership growth plan calls for 50 riders per hour and it 19 short.
So why should I and other MT riders support this service at all when I get close doors buses because there are not enough buses on the road in the first place? This is a waste of resources that could be put to better use.
Now if you where asking for a bus going into a new subdivision as transit first I would support it. All the new development going to take place where this bus is going to run is within the 400 meter to a stop or a 5 minute walking distance.
Far as I am concern, let bulldoze the whole city center and start over. While we are doing this, lets do the whole city and get rid of the sprawl and put the current population in to haft the land mass it use now.
As for someone that may get on Confederation to go to Sq One, it a 20 minute trip compare to a 10 minute walk.
Your turn
