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Two interesting transit topics came up this week.
Today I rode my bike around the city, about ten miles in all, putting up flyers for the Kelly Girls. Then I collapsed in dead exhaustion. I think I'm out of shape, and I'm more grateful than ever that Chicago is basically flat flat flat. Also, the bike lane on Damen is excellent! I had forgotten all about it since I moved south.
On Eight Forty-Eight the other day, there was a big discussion of the potential CTA fare hike, and its implications. There was this guy from Northwestern's Infrastructure Technology Institute who insisted that fares shouldn't be subsidized, or at least shouldn't be kept artificially low, because that doesn't do anyone (including "poor people") any favors. He felt that it would be better to charge more for transit, and that people who ride farther should pay more (as on the DC Metro and other systems).
This really made me see red. After all, basically he's talking about penalizing lower-income riders, people who can't afford to pay much more for transit, or who can't afford to live in the expensive neighborhoods in which they work. They ride from far away, and Schulz's suggestion that charging them more for these longer rides would give them an incentive to live nearer their jobs is a ridiculous argument.
Posted by Hilary at October 12, 2003 09:54 PM