My job responsibilities include keeping up on the news. I was just reading this article on Caltrain's financial crisis, and the numbers at the end inspired me to pull out my calculator.
CALTRAIN NUMBERS
$2.3 million: deficit
35,000: daily riders
My calculation: $2,300,000/200 commute days per year (a conservative estimate)/35,000 daily passengers (or do they mean trips? I bet they mean trips.) = $0.33 (the amount they would have to raise fares per ticket (or possibly per passenger which means it's only half as much) to cover the deficit
BTW, demand for transportation is relatively inelastic. This means that people won't stop riding very quickly as the fare increases.
I don't know about you, but $0.33/day isn't a lot of money to me. Heck, raise the fares $0.50/day just to be on the safe side. Just accompany it with better service like more space for bikes and bullet trains on the weekend and even in the middle of the day.
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It seems to me that everyone needs a little forethought on this. When it really gets bad and car costs become an issue that can't be solved--we're going to need more train lines-- More train lines into more communities so that we can at least still get to work. My work is spread out over 2 counties and it varies every day where I need to be.
Train travel is really preferable to bus travel---but some sort of combination is usually what ends up making it work.
We need Cal Train to expand, not diminish. Maybe a benefit concert for the trains is needed--since California is on a severe diet at this point....
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