[sustran] Re: Denver data
BruunB at aol.com
BruunB at aol.com
Fri Oct 26 03:14:08 JST 2001
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
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