The NY Times was one of the ringleaders in pushing for COVID lockdowns, in everyone staying how, in isolating yourself from everyone else, in fearmongering contact with other people – I’m not saying that social distancing and no touching are not smart measures. They are. I do it. Don’t touch me, no handshakes, not fist bumps, stay back. The NY Times went way overboard in trying to scare people -, in pushing Government to lock people down (all while the Times’ employees were free to do their jobs), not too mention ignoring what Cuomo was doing in nursing homes. Plus, it was a pandemic. People started changing their behavior even before Government starting dictating all sorts of things, having seen what was going on in China, Italy, and on cruise ships.
And this whole worldwide pandemic is just so inconvenient for the Cult of Climastrology
Riders Are Abandoning Buses and Trains. That’s a Problem for Climate Change.
Public transit offers a simple way for cities to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but the pandemic has pushed ridership, and revenue, off a cliff in many big systems.
On the London Underground, Piccadilly Circus station is nearly vacant on a weekday morning, while the Delhi Metro is ferrying fewer than half of the riders it used to. In Rio, unpaid bus drivers have gone on strike. New York City subway traffic is just a third of what it was before the pandemic.
A year into the coronavirus pandemic, public transit is hanging by a thread in many cities around the world. Riders remain at home or they remain fearful of boarding buses and trains. And without their fares, public transit revenues have fallen off a cliff. In some places service has been cut, fares have gone up and transit workers are facing the prospect of layoffs.
That’s a disaster for the world’s ability to address that other global crisis: climate change. Public transit offers a relatively simple way for cities to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention a way to improve air quality, noise and congestion in the world’s busiest cities.
The last three, yes. Climate change? Scam. In a place like NYC, I prefer to use public transport. I took the train into NYC numerous times when I lived in NJ, and would take the bus or subway around the city. In the times since living in NJ, I’ve gone into the city several times while visiting NJ, and always on public transport. I want absolutely nothing to do with driving in. But, it’s about convenience, not saving the earth from climate apocalypse.
“We are facing maybe the most important crisis in the public transit sector in different parts of the world,†said Sérgio Avelleda, the director of urban mobility for the World Resources Institute and a former transport secretary for São Paulo, Brazil. “It’s urgent to act.â€
But act how? Transit agencies that have been bailed out by the government are wondering how long the generosity will last, and almost everywhere, transportation experts are scrambling to figure out how to better adapt public transit to the needs of riders as cities begin to emerge from the pandemic.
Well, good luck with that. But, consider that they let people on airplanes, and seat them right next to each other (I’ll be hones, that was rather uncomfortable over Christmas, but, I wore long sleeves and made sure no direct skin contact), so, why not buses and trains? They don’t have to be packed. Just full seating. But, will people do that, especially when so many are basically locked down/being told not to travel except where necessary around the world in big cities?
The bigger challenge for all cities is to fix their public transit systems now so that passengers will return, said Mohamed Mezghani, head of the International Association of Public Transport. They could adjust peak hour service as telecommuting from home becomes more commonplace, expand bus only lanes that make commutes more efficient and comfortable or improve ventilation systems to ensure citizens that riding public transit is safe.
“Those cities that were investing, they will get out stronger,†Mr. Mezghani said. “People will feel more comfortable traveling in a new modern public transit system. It’s about perception in the end.â€
What’s “a new modern public transit system”? It’s still buses and trains. Nothing else. And why would we need as many when so many are locked down, working from home, etc? Anyhow, there are good, real reasons to take public transport in big cities like NYC. The climate scam is not one of them. But, you know, this whole pandemic, with people losing their jobs, losing their money, lives upended, getting sick, dying, yeah, that’s so inconvenient for the Cult of Climastrology.
The DC metro system is still run just like when it was first built in the mid 70’s using technology from the 60’s. Disneyworld has had fully automated trains with electric gates since the mid 70’s. The gates only open when a train is in position to board so people can’t get pushed onto tracks. Instead, DC insists on using low IQ people to operate the trains. Even though fares are already collected automatically so no human hands touch the cash, the fare turnstiles are easily bypassed. And only white people get stopped if they are caught doing this. It is public policy to not interfere with “poor” people riding the Metro without paying.
DC government hypes COVID as super dangerous so stay away from people. People stop using public transportation where they get crowded in with all sorts of dirty people coughing and sneezing. DC acts surprised with low ridership rates.
Ridership is down so the geniuses that run the trains will need to jack up the fares. The usual bullshit to follow.
Ridership is down because everybody who can work from home IS working from from.
This is actually a GOOD thing because of all the people who insisted on driving into the city are staying home, reducing congestion and emissions.
This is actually a GOOD thing because of all the people who have to drive into the city because their hours are outside of Mass Transit operations or are prohibitively inconvenient are experiencing reducded congestion, thus helping with idling emissions.
This is actually a GOOD thing because of all the people who had to drive to a train station or bus station to get to work, no longer have to drive to the stations, again reducing congestion and emissions.
Most of these systems do NOT rely on fair paying customers to operate as all of them operated most of their routes at a loss, (hence the need for subsidies).
They could use the reduced ridership and traffic as an opportunity to fix/modernize ancient infrastructure but that would be too sensible.
Instead they whine, as usual, as beg for more $$, so to tastefully redecorate their offices and reward people with no-show, patronage jobs.