Bumped: Given that Tim’s post is saying that the NHRTA (NH Rail Transit Authority) should be ridden out of NH out on a rail (pun intended), I decided to highlight the cost of the Downeaster – the most popular rail in NH could not exist without huge taxpayer subsidies.
| Avg % | Fare per | Subsidy / | Ratio | |||||
| Total | Vehicle | Fare / | Subsidy / | Passenger | Passenger | Subsidy / | ||
| City | Agency | Expense | Filled | Trip | Trip | Mile | Mile | Fare |
| Portland | “Downeaster” | $15,817,222 | 37.20% | 14.07 | 19.49 | 0.18 | 0.25 | 138.54% |
Note: Remember as the Rail hobby lovers tell you that no NH taxpayer money would be used, NH folks pay Federal taxes too.
==================================================
OK, here’s an idea to save money! Transit systems. Of all kinds, here in NH.
From the Anti-Planner (who did major work in assembling the disparate data from the Feds), I have abstracted and drilled down – how much do the transit systems that accept Fed money depend on subsidies?
| Avg % | Fare per | Subsidy / | Ratio | |||||
| Total | Vehicle | Fare / | Subsidy / | Passenger | Passenger | Subsidy / | ||
| City | Agency | Expense | Filled | Trip | Trip | Mile | Mile | Fare |
| Manchester | Manchester Transit Authority | 508,277 | 2.0% | 2.49 | 41.16 | 0.61 | 10.05 | 1651.89% |
| Dover | Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation | 252,836 | 4.7% | 2.40 | 83.31 | 0.25 | 8.72 | 3474.16% |
| Nashua | Nashua Transit System | 1,002,597 | 7.7% | 1.52 | 33.26 | 0.23 | 5.12 | 2184.65% |
| Manchester | Manchester Transit Authority | 3,947,331 | 6.1% | 0.91 | 6.51 | 0.37 | 2.61 | 711.91% |
| Dover | Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation | 3,765,613 | 9.5% | 0.74 | 10.18 | 0.10 | 1.31 | 1374.49% |
| Dover | Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation | 74,170 | 19.4% | 0.65 | 2.69 | 0.08 | 0.34 | 414.18% |
| Nashua | Nashua Transit System | 1,339,863 | 14.4% | 0.54 | 2.52 | 0.11 | 0.50 | 471.45% |
| Durham | University Of New Hampshire – University Transportation Services | 4,123,018 | 22.4% | 0.03 | 3.67 | 0.01 | 0.86 | 12645.82% |
| Portland | Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority | 15,817,222 | 37.2% | 14.07 | 19.49 | 0.18 | 0.25 | 138.54% |
Notice the last column. Look at the largest number. Color me unsurprised that the entity milking the system the most is Academia. After all, they are used to getting everyone else to pay for them.
I also note that the local transit system tinted their windows so that people like me could no longer EASILY notice how many people are NOT on those shiny new buses that cost $65K each (and generally run with 2 or 3 riders, at a subsidy cost of about $8 / person / ride [if I remember right]).
Remember, if something could be profitably done, the private sector would be doing – and doing it well. While Progressives and Liberals decry the profit motive, it IS that motive that drives improvement – on a voluntary basis. After all, if the service sucks, people voluntarily will not pay for it. So consider the premise that the need for the above services is insufficient for long term viability WITHOUT hoovering taxes from those that may never ride these services. Consider this – Liberal Democrats are all about enforcing Obamacare’s Individual Mandate to make sure that there are no ‘free riders" on the system.
Then how come they have no problem in setting up the above system so as to create, literally, free riders?
