Freund thinks most transit planners, focused on schedules and infrastructure investments, don't really get what moves people.
But most transit districts in the Bay Area and throughout California have been lukewarm to a local-option fee.
"However, we have worked to keep local bus fares below the regional average and preserved some important discounts for seniors and people with disabilities, as well as for students and others who are among the most transit dependent".
Most transit services, like the subways, buses and the Staten Island Ferry, operate with some sort of government subsidies, but the current East River subsidy is assured for only three years.
Most New Yorkers, including most transit workers, were relieved on Dec. 16 at word that a tentative agreement had been reached between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union.
All across America, writes Ladd, streetcar transit "had been expected to pay for itself, but after ridership ceased to grow in the 1920s, the private franchises that operated most transit systems were unable to make money under the regulations imposed on them by local governments.
