I know this is a somewhat of a local story, but it's my blog so I get to rant. Early this morning New York experienced a bit of rain, ok it was a down pour. As a result the entire New York City subway system crumbled before our eyes. For those of you not familiar with our lovely system, when the subways stop running, NY stops running, literally. There is mass hysteria and panic when this occurs. And today, every line on the system experienced some form of failure. Why? Because some rain got on the tracks and evidently flooded the joint. In my part of Brooklyn, a tree fell over and blocked four lanes of subway tracks. My normal one hour commute took 3 ½ hours today. I came to work sweaty, upset, and with a headache. And there are thousands of horror commuter stories like mine; just check out the New York Times report. How is it that the subway system stops completely when there is a storm or trains are put out of service when there is a sick passenger? There will always be rain and people will always get sick. You'd think after 100 plus years they would have some sort of contingency plan for these events. How can it be that the trains in Tokyo are considered extremely late if they are not on the platform within 30 seconds of their scheduled time? Don't they have rain? Don't they have sick passengers?
We need a major overhaul and increasing the fare from the already high $2 a ride is not the answer. The government needs to put an enormous amount of money into the transportation system, and why not, we deserve it! New York City is the main money maker for the tristate area and everyone sucks us dry. We get very little financial support from the state in relation to what we put in. We no longer collect a commuter tax from those suburbanites who find the city good enough to work in in during the day but run home at night to Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut to their big homes and lower taxes without paying for the privilege of earning a living here.
I would agree, but I think on a broader scale. There are many major cities around the US with either a very limeted system, or one that shuts down easily, like yours, or both. I think that infastructure is a vital part of a health economy, and public transport is a vital part of infastructure. Many places around the world have excellent public transport, and it does noticibly help them. There should be major upgrades to the public transport system around the US, not just in New York. I do not know where the goverment would get the money, but this is as important, in my view, as many other things that have a much higher budjet. And if they can find $1.27 trillion for the iraq war, then they can certainly find howerver much is required here. For those who don't know why I used the number $1.27 trillion, see the main article in the July 2006 The American Prospect
We often link to other sites that require free registration in order to view their content. For your
convenience, you can access most of these by using the following information:
*
1 Comments:
I would agree, but I think on a broader scale. There are many major cities around the US with either a very limeted system, or one that shuts down easily, like yours, or both. I think that infastructure is a vital part of a health economy, and public transport is a vital part of infastructure. Many places around the world have excellent public transport, and it does noticibly help them. There should be major upgrades to the public transport system around the US, not just in New York. I do not know where the goverment would get the money, but this is as important, in my view, as many other things that have a much higher budjet. And if they can find $1.27 trillion for the iraq war, then they can certainly find howerver much is required here. For those who don't know why I used the number $1.27 trillion, see the main article in the July 2006 The American Prospect
Post a Comment
<< Home