Quote:
Originally Posted by Qubert
The thing is that building rail even when bus ridership is cratering is about building for the future and about trying to generate a transit culture.
The reality is that buses are more often than not transit for the lower-working-class/poor even in Europe/Asia. Bus ridership is tanking in the US because believe it or not the US economy has been on a tear since 2010/2011 and it's causing the working classes to ditch transit for cars/ride sharing even here in NYC. People are not going to build a transit culture around buses if there are other options available. Building rail is about attracting choice riders who will be far more loyal and vested in the transit of the city.
An example is what's going on in Washington DC: As Metro has cratered the people still sticking it out are the upper middle class base on the Virginia/Red Line segments while the working class PG/DC residents are leaving the bus system like it's on fire. If it wasn't for Metrorail, DC would see it's "transit culture" unraveling too.
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More than just transit culture is unraveling in DC. Long time residents are being priced out of their city due to gentrification.