Well fix it dear Porridge, dear Porridge, dear Porridge, well fix it dear Porridge, dear Porridge, fix it

With what shall I fix it, dear Metro, dear Metro, with what shall I fix it, dear Metro, with what?

With teh webs, dear Porridge, dear Porridge, dear Porridge, teh webs, dear Porridge, dear Porridge, teh webs.

. . . sorry my exposure to children’s music is at an all time high.

Considering the number of people I work with who work in EP and Eagan alone, you look at that map up there and can see we have a pretty significant hole in the system.

Transit is sort of like energy, diversification is probably the best answer.

Also, I don’t think it matters if we look at cars vs. LRT or bus vs LRT or whatever; if it’s government agency vs government agency there’s going to be obfuscation,inefficiency, and politrix.

Am I missing something?
Obviously, you moved to Chaska.

i know some people who look at me like i’m crazy when i tell them i bus to work every day. with questions like "is it safe??? do you carry protection?" etc., that tells me people have this perception that buses are overrun with thugs and punks, etc. when in reality, even in my short time riding buses and LRT regularly, i can tell you that while there’s plenty of crazy folks on the occasional bus route, it’s much less than the crazy ass drivers out there, and i feel 1000x more safe riding a bus than i do driving in rush hour traffic.

if you could show many of these outstate people who are so against mass transit that regular white AND blue collar folk ride mass transit and are just like you and I, they might not look down upon it as much as they do.

*shrug*

TxDOT did a study and determined that not ONE road in the Lone Star state is paid for by gas taxes and user fees. Indeed, not one road is HALF paid for by gas taxes and user fees. What makes up the gap? Subsidies. :) Now, if anyone here in MN thinks that doesn’t apply here – perhaps you should re-read Pawlenty’s budgets. Hard for me to see how transit fares covering 30% of the operating cost is any different than gas taxes & user fees covering "considerably less than 50%" of a road’s cost.

http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/index.php/news/Do_Roads_Pay_for_Themselves%3F

The biggest anti-transit myth propagated is that someone who does not use transit does not benefit from the investment in and use of transit by others. Transit frees capacity on over-burdened roads, lowers gas prices, lowers insurance rates (lower accident risk), reduces time spent in traffic for all, lowers carbon footprint, increases literacy (reading on the bus), lowers medical premiums & bills (fewer trips to the psychologist for road-rage and doctor for high blood pressure)… i could go on and on.

ok… the last couple I started getting goofy. but really, it’s quite simple. If increasing the available capacity on the roadways benefits the community – why should it matter how that capacity was increased? Adding additional lanes for more autos or removing cars by offering transit – don’t both accomplish the same benefit?

look, i have a nice car, i happen to ride the bus to work and have for almost 2 years now. i couldn’t imagine going back to driving, and it’s not even the $$ issue.

but it was pointed out above, that transit options should surely be taken into consideration when purchasing a home, something my wife and I definitely did when we bought our house in Nokomis last month.

smarlett, why not take the 690 down 169 from Louisiana Ave Transit Center to the Southwest Transit Center in EP?

rhagelstrom, i didn’t mean per rider sorry, just in terms of overall dollars (which again, many anti-mass transit people tend to ignore or not understand).