3 comments.
Couple of things
- Yes, the students protesting the cuts do provide a dose of reality, but ... the actual reality is the dramatic falloff in revenue. The students can protest all they want, but that isn't going to change the state's dire fiscal status. At some point, deep cuts will be made, and those cuts will probably be complemented by a steep increase in tuition. It's not a good situation, to be sure, but it's the reality.
- What's the biggest distortion in the train-wreck that is Jerry Haas's column? The continuation of the meme that University System of Georgia officials were only trying to 'scare' people? The simplistic assertion that government can't do anything right, despite the actual lack of data or evidence to verify such a claim? The incredulous claim that a paring back of employment at one of the area's largest employers is a good thing for community? If you said all three, plus so much more, than you're right!
- I'd say only five complaints, and one of them being your own, qualifies this to be a non-starter. Still, Athens-Clarke County Mayor Heidi Davison is fundamentally right ... if you want to bolster ridership, you need to expand service and add routes. Lowering the price by a quarter just won't do much to get folks on there. It's a kind gesture from a moralistic point of view, but it's not an economically efficient one (particularly in the middle of the fiscal mess everyone's dealing with right now). Of course, I'd rather raise the rider's fare for the University of Georgia to $1.50 per ride and encourage officials to directly pass that cost on to students via higher fees.
- Talking Points Memo picked up the Ray McBerry email story, but they dramatically blew it out of proportion. Everyone in Georgia, from both sides of the aisle, has long recognized McBerry for the sack of crazy that he is. He's not taken credibly by either party, runs for office every chance he can and has a passionate, but absurdly small group of followers.
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The bus
Submitted by Sarah on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 10:04am.I'd say (based purely on gut feeling and nothing scientific whatsoever) that you'd have to reduce the fare to a dollar to cross a psychological hurdle that would get more people to ride. That said, I think Heidi Davison is probably fundamentally correct in that convenience is the ultimate factor. I know there's no way I'd use the bus on a regular basis with two little kids unless it ran more frequently and preferably closer than the current half-mile from my house.
Sarah's Response
Submitted by Michael Smith (not verified) on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 10:59am.I agree to a great extent with Sarah's point about a one dollar fare and it should be the direction ATS goes in the near future...Hopefully, her kids are under 6, just from a fare price perspective, :). If they are both six, then a round trip fare for her and the two is 8.00 just for a trip to the grocery store, without any other stops. Reducing fares by a quarter for a mom and two six year olds in the same scenario will save them $1.50 minimum for the one trip...as far as increasing ridership with a 25c decrease, even the most archaic fare elasticity models predict a five per cent increase in ridership... anyway this effort is to increase ridership as a fiscal, social and enviromental imperative...Mayor Davison is a tough sale, as it should be...but I would want no other locally elected official deciding the final outcome of this campaign, so we shall see...Thanks you all, Michael