streetcar system

A throw-away line in a Seattle P-I comment thread says the bus system in Seattle achieves 10% farebox recovery. In Toronto, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer the transit system achieves 75% farebox recovery- a rate they attribute to aggressively promoting service and comfort, achieved in part by using streetcars instead of buses wherever they can.

“All else being equal, we get more riders on streetcars than on buses,” said Scott Haskell, route planner for the Toronto Transit Commission. “Some people who wouldn’t ride a bus will ride a streetcar.”

Certainly, if farebox recovery actually is only 10%, Seattle would be justified in simply dropping the fare. Collecting fares costs money and time. Alternately, Seattle could aggressively replace electric trolley buses with streetcars, and use the liberated trolley buses to electrify other routes.

After all, it’s not like there will be less people riding transit in the future.