[sustran] comments on profitability,

[Dharm Guruswamy]

 ---
Dharm Guruswamy, Associate, Transportation Environmental Economics,
Apogee Research Inc.
4350 East-West Highway, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814   
                                                                  

Phone: (301) 657-7546 Fax: (301) 654-9355 E-mail: guruswam at apogee-us.com

 -----Original Message-----
From: Wendell Cox
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 1997 5:04 PM
To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
Subject: Re: [sustran] comments on profitability,


That's probably Metrolink --- the commuter rail operation, whose subsidy   
per
passenger could be that high if you include the capital costs. We   
normally
don't include capital costs in the US because that's presumed to be free.
The other three LA lines --- Red, Blue & Green have much lower subsidies   
 ---
hard to believe operating and capital subsidy combined could exceed $5.00   
on
any.

Actually I believe these numbers are from the early days of Metrorail   
when there was only the Blue Line.  At the time the Los Angeles County   
Sherrif's department was contracted to provide Blue Line security   
(instead of RTD police because LACTC didn't trust RTD).  The operating   
costs were indeed around $12 per passenger because ridership was half   
what it is now and because security cost were something like 80% of that   
subsidy.

Don't quote me on this as this is from my far from perfect memory.


Would like to join Setty and Dr. Mohan for the beer....

Best regards,
Wendell Cox

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