{"id":178904373,"date":"2010-09-02T15:39:33","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T15:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=178904373"},"modified":"2010-09-02T15:39:33","modified_gmt":"2010-09-02T15:39:33","slug":"twelve-anti-transit-myths-a-conservative-critique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=178904373","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Anti-Transit Myths: A Conservative Critique"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Dirty Dozen: Twelve Anti-Transit Myths <\/p>\n<p>Myth Number One: Light Rail has been a failure everywhere. The estimated costs always prove too low, and the ridership projections are always too high.<br \/>\nMyth Number Two: Transit is a declining industry.<br \/>\nMyth Number Three: Commuting by rail is slower than commuting by car or bus.<br \/>\nMyth Number Four: Transit does not relieve congestion.<br \/>\nMyth Number Five: Where transit is needed, buses are better than rail. Buses cost less and provide the same or better service.<br \/>\nMyth Number Six: Rail transit can only serve city centers, but most new jobs are in the suburbs.<br \/>\nMyth Number Seven: Rail Transit does not spur economic development.<br \/>\nMyth Number Eight: Transit brings crime into a community.<br \/>\nMyth Number Nine: Most Light Rail riders are former bus riders.<br \/>\nMyth Number Ten: Free market competition and privately operated transit is better.<br \/>\nMyth Number Eleven: On average, most of the seats on a bus or train are empty.<br \/>\nMyth Number Twelve: It would be cheaper to lease or buy a new car for every rider than to build a new light rail system. <\/p>\n<p>A Few More Myths<br \/>\n1. Transit subsidies exceed automobile subsidies.<br \/>\n2. Increasing transit funding does not increase ridership.<br \/>\n3. Transit is not cost effective.<br \/>\n4. Most people do not want rail transit.<br \/>\n5. Monorail is better than Light Rail.<br \/>\n6. Light Rail is not safe.<br \/>\n7. Transit infrastructure is only constructed to get federal money.<br \/>\n8. Rail transit does not help revitalize downtowns.<br \/>\n9. Transit is an &#8216;inferior&#8217; good; as incomes rise, demand declines.<br \/>\n10. Transit inefficiencies and failures are the result of politics.<br \/>\n11. Rail transit is a federal conspiracy.<br \/>\n12. Transit is not important because its market share is so small.<br \/>\n13. Transit systems are poor stewards of public funds.<br \/>\n14. Rail transit does not increase property values.<br \/>\n15. Before federal involvement, transit paid for itself.<br \/>\n16. Light Rail is promoted by overly low fares.<br \/>\n17. Cutting spending on transit would allow tax cuts.<br \/>\n18. Transit subsidies should be directed to users, not providers.<br \/>\n19. Light Rail is social engineering.<br \/>\n20. Transit costs more than it should.<br \/>\n21. Trains are noisy.<br \/>\n22. The overhead wires for Light Rail are ugly.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartgrowthamerica.org\/weyrich3.pdf\">https:\/\/www.smartgrowthamerica.org\/weyrich3.pdf<\/a>oldId.20100902153933990<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dirty Dozen: Twelve Anti-Transit Myths Myth Number One: Light Rail has been a failure everywhere. The estimated costs always prove too low, and the ridership projections are always too high. Myth Number Two: Transit is a declining industry. Myth Number Three: Commuting by rail is slower than commuting by car or bus. Myth Number &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=178904373\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Twelve Anti-Transit Myths: A Conservative Critique&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178904373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mass-transit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178904373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=178904373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178904373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=178904373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=178904373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=178904373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}