http://www.queensciviccongress.org/Media/files/2008/2008-05-01_Sales_Tax_for_Transit.pdf

Not as good as taxing the dangerous bridge traffic, but better than nothing.

You must be F'in' with me!

Huh! I checked it out and can't believe it. Was the passenger use to go to stations other than the St. George Terminal so low it never warranted it till now?

If only the Tottenville Ferry to Perth Amboy still ran...

Just from personal observation on a reverse commute maybe up 5%.

The Staten Island Ferry is also free.

Someone with a folding bike could take the train all the way from Tottenville to Tompkinsville, get off, bike the three minutes to St. George, hop the ferry, and ride to work for nothing.

A) As a matter of social policy: get rid of every incumbent member of the state legislature, replacing them with those prepared to take radical steps on generational equity grounds, and for the benefit of consumers of public services rather than producers of those services, reversing the current trend.

I'm not kidding. We've gone beyond the capacity for incremental change to get us out of this. By "radical steps" I mean that at least where the government is concerned, people in equal situations should be treated equally, and all existing privileges should not only be eliminted but paid back.

B) Personally, prepare for life with degraded public services and benefits and higher taxes. This is likely to occur before most people realize what is going on and bother with A), and seems inevitable because those in charge will keep bestowing future revenues on themselves while deferring costs until that point.

I've personally done all I could to achieve A). It didn't amount to much.

As for B, if you can ride a bicycle to work, or to the subway line that is working, you are ahead of the game.

If you are happy living with less, you are ahead of the game also.

If you don't mind doing things that benefit other people and are heathly enough to continue working well into your 70s, you'll be better off -- you'll need the income to pay taxes for the leisure of those who retire (officially) at 55 on your dime.

With all the tax dollars going to the retirees, and decent schools available only to those with "placards," perhaps some kind of supported homeschooling will be necessary.

Etc.

Possibly the biggest logistical (after their insufficient schedule) problem Metro North has is the lack of parking at the stations. As far as I know, only New Rochelle and Stamford have multi-level parking. Most stations on that line have a waiting list and pretty stiff fees to park. Expanding available parking (and more frequent service) would almost certainly boost ridership.

I did find it amusing that the biggest increase in ridership was in the most "American" (ie car owning) borough of Staten Island, and the smallest increases in the other boroughs of NYC. I guess they're figuring out what we already knew.

And Larry, South Florida????

Not only irrelevant, but also EEEWWWWWWWWWW!

Transit ridership has soared in South Florida, I read today, but they are thinking of cutting service by one-third on weekdays and eliminating it on weekends as a result of the fiscal collapse.

People have to adjust their expectations to what the older generations now in charge have done to us, and continue to do to us. They don't want to pay, and in the public sector they want to work and contribute as little as possible (age 55 max), but they want more and more for themselves, and borrow to get it.

I would not just hold the opposition accountable. Where were our supporters? They did not go to bat for NYC. They were nominally in favor, but did not make the strong case necessary for action to have been taken.

And as for the livable streets Plan B so far, it's mostly unfunded and also needs some state legislative approval for enforcement cameras. It's a nice plan, but that's all it is right now. Same as the MTA capital plan.

Oh wait, you forgot about the Rockaway ferry - I think they have a couple of hundred people or so... up infinity %. Viability TBD