Late today, and a public hearing too...

Today, we were fifteen minutes late, coming home from Washington DC. They did say what was wrong, but it was kinda toasty on the train and so I drifted in and out of sleep, therefore, I don't recall.

What I do recall, however, is what it was discussed today at one of the public hearings that MTA (Maryland Transit Administration) is holding throughout the week. I went to the one that took place in Washington DC, not too far from Union Station. Basically, they are talking service reductions and getting rid of the 10-day passes. The MTA folks say that they have selected which services to eliminate based on daily ridership, and that the 10-day passes cannot be collected at some of the cars due to crowding. Also, they are getting rid of holiday service. Some attendees spoke, I did not, but I filled out a form with my concerns and gave it to the MTA poc at the end. I am pretty much in favor of what most of the fellow riders say: most of us would support a fare increase, rather than see service reduced. Most people also think that the system needs more services, not fewer. That decreased trips will "drive" some people back to the cars, and this will only bring further service cuts. The folks at MTA are against fare hikes, because of the current economic environment, still, from the user standpoint, most of us would rather pay more than see our rides dissapear.

I am also troubled by the following fact: MTA is funded in part by fuel tax revenues, taxes paid when cars are purchased, car registration fees. Anybody sees anything weird with this equation?

Anyway, the whole thing is just sad. At a time when this country needs to get serious about finding alternatives to cars and thus investing in a good public transportation infrastructure, our MARC system is actually reducing its services. Good, reliable, practical public transportation is a need, is a quality of life issue.

Finally, Transportation for America has set up this sort of petition to President-elect Obama, to get serious about public transportation. I filled out mine, perhaps anybody would care to join me? Link here.