Public Transit Ridership Down in Liberal Cities Due to Crime-Ridden Buses/Trains Where Authorities Have Banned Law Abiding Citizens from Keeping and Bearing Arms for Self-Defense Against Criminals

ALL LAWS ARE VIOLENCE. THE REBEL LARKEN ROSE EXPLAINS, “IN TRUTH, EVERY AUTHORITARIAN “LAW” IS A COMMAND BACKED BY THE THREAT OF RETALIATION AGAINST THOSE WHO DO NOT COMPLY. WHETHER IT IS A “LAW” AGAINST COMMITTING MURDER OR AGAINST BUILDING A DECK WITHOUT A BUILDING PERMIT, IT IS NEITHER A SUGGESTION NOR A REQUEST, BUT A COMMAND, BACKED BY THE THREAT OF VIOLENCE, WHETHER IN THE FORM OF FORCED CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY (I.E., FINES) OR THE KIDNAPPING OF A HUMAN BEING (I.E., IMPRISONMENT), WHAT MIGHT BE CALLED “EXTORTION” IF DONE BY THE AVERAGE CITIZEN IS CALLED “TAXATION” WHEN DONE BY PEOPLE WHO ARE IMAGINED TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO RULE. [MORE]

From [HERE] Several of the nation’s largest urban mass-transit systems are at a crossroads, with ridership still depressed three years into the pandemic and federal aid running out. 

While offices have largely reopened and travel has resumed, many commuters are only coming in a few days a week. That shift has left subways, buses and commuter trains operating at well below capacity—particularly on Mondays and Fridays.

The ridership shortfall is forcing transit authorities to question their decades-old funding models for public buses, subways and trains, which are based on a combination of rider fares and public money. On average, fares provided about a third of the operating income for transit systems nationwide in 2019, according to the Federal Transit Administration. 

In major cities such as New York and San Francisco, transit authorities have been leaning on emergency funding to plug budget holes and prop up operations. In all, Congress approved about $69 billion in three separate Covid-19 relief packages in 2020 and 2021.

But those funds are dwindling, leaving transit officials grappling with budget shortfalls and seeking new ways to fund existing service. 

The ridership drop also has fueled an increase in transit crime, which in turn has pushed away more riders.

“The more you lose a ridership base, the more difficult it becomes to maintain a level of service that people are used to,” said P.S. Sriraj, director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois, Chicago. “It’s becoming a vicious cycle.”

In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has disclosed plans to cut some Monday and Friday service and increase rider fares this year. New York’s subway system has regained about two-thirds of its pre-pandemic ridership with about 91 million trips in November, according to the MTA. But that is about 50 million fewer rides than in November 2019. Officials worry usage has stalled out at that level.

In San Francisco, the Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, recorded 3.7 million trips in November—a little more than one-third of the ridership before Covid. 

Systems in Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston also remain short of their pre-pandemic user numbers, deepening financial strains. In cities such as Dallas and Cincinnati, where public-transit budgets are mostly funded through sales tax revenue and more people commute by car, user declines haven’t hit as hard. 

In the U.S. overall, there were 883 million fewer public-transit trips in the third quarter of 2022 compared with the same period in 2019, according to federal data gathered by the American Public Transportation Association. [MORE]