For years the problem has been low ridership of buses. Routes couldn’t be added because the buses would run empty.
And now, suddenly, all we’re hearing is about the costs of fuel. WTF? Shouldn’t that new ridership be helping to pay those costs? I’m starting to think that adding riders to a bus has about the same effect as loading a truck on fuel economy, that is to say, not good.
You can’t really raise the fares when people start riding buses because they’re unable to afford a car. In fact, we need a whole new accounting system that accurately figures the costs of the automobile, and it may be that in that system money would be saved by eliminating the fare.
It’s a sobering comment on diesel buses and farebox recovery. In a sellers market, transit agencies, who have always insisted they had an overstock of unsold seats, still can’t make a profit. It’s not clear to me that they ever should.
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