Mind The Gap

Last week, New Jersey celebrated the ground breaking on a nine billion dollar tunnel to shuttle its half million+ residents to Manhattan daily, while the same day my own Sacramento RT held a board meeting for another rate increase while slashing the number of transit routes due to a $9 million shortfall.

$9 billion will allow the New Jersey commuter to shave fifteen minutes off her commute time. The lack of $9 million will easily add fifteen more minutes to the typical Sacramento transit rider who already suffers from a lack of quality service. RT cannot reconcile the monetary gap.

I don't know if light rail services will be curtailed, but if they are then my 2009 prediction will come true; worsening service whilst ridership is an all time high. I don't ride the RT bus system, I ride e-Tran, but I most certainly use light rail. Every half hour would completely change the dynamics of local area transit. Today it takes about an extra 25-30 minutes to commute by bus rather than car and horrors! it also adds an extra quarter mile of walking. If service is slashed, this could become 45-50 minutes extra which becomes increasingly less likely for someone with means to want to take -- global warming or the environment be damned.

The federales are pitching in three billion into this under-the-Hudson tunnel while many regional transit systems are being cut off from their funding. I earlier lamented how my long-delayed 4 mile south expansion of light rail into Elk Grove was going to cost $1,000 per inch to build. But that stands in awe, in awe! of the $15,600 per inch this new tunnel under the Hudson will cost. And tell me of a New York/New Jersey transportation project that came under budget. OK, because you can't, we know the actual number will be in the double digit billions.