Transit Politics: The Little Engines That Could Get Federal Funding

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Transit Politics: The Little Engines That Could Get Federal Funding

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

One point about automation: I love systems that have designated gates only for tap-systems. DC does not, so in tourist season it sucked when I was trying to get to work, and all four inbound gates in front of me are tied up by multiple members of the Swenson clan of North Dakota who spread out across all lanes trying to figure out which slot their paper card goes into so they can get over to the Smithsonian. I love helping tourists find their way when I'm not in a hurry, but the gate clusters are the single worst thing about tourists. Except for when they ride a packed escalator to the next level, take one step off and then pause to get their bearings as the elevator shoves a dozen people into their backs..

The worst thing about DC metro from a tourist's POV are the loving incomprehensible fares and corresponding ticket machines. I even had to try to explaim it to some locals (well, Americans, at least). In think Munich had something similar, except also in German, so there I just gave up and just drove straight to the center. God bless NYC and its one ticket one ride.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2016 06:46

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mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

FISHMANPET posted:

This is known as proof of payment FYI. You are required and expected to pay, and fare inspectors will spot check and right citations. Here in Minnesota it's a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $180 for paying without valid proof of payment. In theory you should get inspected enough that it's not worth taking the chance.

This is pretty common everywhere and Prague works like this too, except the fine is/was like 30 bucks and if you avoid certain areas you're like never getting checked so it's totally worth it.

That said, I've never seen an actually, by design, free system. The only exception are those buses that take you to Ikea or something.

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

I'll post a little more about Bogot�'s pseudo-rail fancy bus system later, but I always loved the chaos of the signage for the informal private buses:

Bogot� distinguishes between calle and carrera, like streets and avenues, with carrera being roughly north-south and Calle east-west. There's a trend to abbreviate carrera as "K" to distinguish the two. But in any case as you can see, private buses just list out all major streets and neighborhoods they go through, so you stand by the roadside, read like crazy, and try to identify and flag down the one you want.

I may have mentioned earlier, hailing apps have become so ubiquitous in Bogota, some times of day it's totally impossible to flag a cab by hand since any empty cab you see is en-route to a smartphone pickup.

If folks are curious, I can write more later about transit in Liberia. One thing I really wish I'd debriefed folk on for a paper, or recorded for YouTube, is that people flag down private taxis, "shared cars" via hand signs. You see people by the roadside patting their heads, waving two fingers down, or whatever, and that indicates their destination, so a car with three passengers heading downtown will watch for more folks making the downtown signal to pick up. For reference a Toyota Corolla will commonly hold a driver and six adult passengers, which is a little unnervy during Ebola outbreaks.

Sure, this would be interesting! From my limited experience real public transport is close to non existent in Africa, though I've used the Gautrain in Joburg, which was pretty much exactly like what you'd see anywhere else, and a minibus taxi, which was exactly like in eastern Europe but much hotter.

Looks like Addis Ababa is supposed to have a similar thing with hand signals, so I never managed to flag one down successfully and relied on an actual taxi instead, which was an ancient Lada.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2016 23:29

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

Do they give out parking spaces individually? Our office is in a business park on the outskirts of the city rather than downtown but the way it's done is there are maybe like 20 spaces per 50 people, all on first-come first serve basis, but it's usually at most 80% full. The assumption is that most people would be using public transport most of the time but if anyone needs to drive, it's not a problem either. They also give (or used to) like twenty bucks or so per month to contribute to the transit pass or gas.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2016 22:48

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

a patagonian cavy posted:

LA voted on extending a previous sales tax by 30 years in 2012... And it failed after getting a mere 65% of the vote in support. Opposition was pretty strong in parts of LA which don't have any plans to get mass transit service, like San Pedro and the South Bay cities.

The funniest thing, unquestionably, about the LACMTA expansion is the massive number of reasons opponents of the Purple Line (heavy rail subway) have come up with to oppose it. Like the idea that ISIS will use it to blow up OUR CHILDREN.

Aaand it's Bevery Hills, of course.

Combed Thunderclap posted:

I'd definitely be interested in hearing more! I'm very interested in non-governmental/informal transit systems like those.

The New Yorker did a really awesome and in-depth story on the NYC dollar buses that's a must read IMHO.

This is pretty cool, I had no idea NY had them. From TFA:
"The licensed vans operate under highly restrictive rules, which forbid them from picking up along New York City�s innumerable bus routes and require all pick-ups to be prearranged and documented in a passenger manifest."
:lol:

that's not how these minivan taxis are supposed to work you silly taxi and limousine commission!

# ¿ Nov 7, 2016 20:40

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