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Sigh. A Politico article arguing that suburban commuters into downtown are the only transit riders who matter, and that if there are fewer of them transit must be doomed. It's both technically false and seemingly unaware of equity issues. @TSnyderDC 1/ https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/24/coronavirus-effect-mass-transit-461658
The falsehood: "The ongoing shock to the system could wipe out the main justifications for transit's existence — rush hour congestion and pricey downtown parking —" That's true of commuter rail and commuter bus, but not of transit overall. 2/
Some rush-hour oriented services do have an uncertain future, and some giant infrastructure projects geared to this market may not pencil out anymore. But rush-hour service was always inefficient: in its use of fleet, short shifts, & the cost of running empty the other way. 3/
What transit does supremely efficiently is run two-way, all-day, enabling diverse kinds of travel within a dense or densifying place. As housing and jobs become more balanced, the peak commute will matter less and in-city transit will matter more. 4/
And even if you prefer to assume that all the people using in-city transit are poor and therefore unimportant, even if you don't care about the equity/justice agenda, you depend on these people to hold civilization together! 5/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-07/in-a-pandemic-we-re-all-transit-dependent
Suburban commuters, please remember: You are important and we care about you, but you are not transit's only market, or the most cost-effective one to serve. If you never come back, transit will still have a critical role, but only if you all don't tear it down. 6/6
