[sustran] Re: Denver data

[BruunB at aol.com]

To supplement what Wendell said, virtually all transit properties in the US 
need large amounts of subsidy. In general, the more car-oriented the service 
area, the lower the percentage of operating cost that can be recovered.

The question is not how much subsidy a particular line requires, but how much 
the network or each passenger requires. 

Assuming a static service area, a system reoriented around a rail trunk can 
lower the subsidy required or increase the service for the same budget. The 
idea is to use a hub-spoke system in entirely the same fashion as airlines or 
package expeditors. It  improves service for the majority through more 
frequent service and deteriorates it for a minority by removing some 
straight-through services.

Assuming a dynamic service area (continually sprawling), adding a rail trunk 
might be the only way to get reasonable frequency of service in outlying 
areas. Connecting buses serve as both feeder/distributors and local service. 
Without the trunk, buses must go much farther, perhaps all the way to a 
Central Business District, which amounts to an inefficient way to use an 
operating budget.

Eric