sister cities

My lovely sister in Seattle has informed me that there is a similar (probably better or at least more consistent) blog to mine up there that was picked up by the Seattle Post-Intelligencier called Bus Chick. It's on my list of blogs i'm following but for some reason doesn't show up in my blog list next to my recent posts. Could be because it's not generated by blogger.

After reading a few of her posts and liking what i see, i'd like to announce that, in my mind, Seattle is now the official "sister city" to my Phoenix bustories. They haven't confirmed this and i haven't made contact with the "bus chick" but it seems to be an innocent enough claim so i'm going to go with it.

Her most recent post mentions the economic stimulus package and how cities have been cutting back on mass transit while also trying to encourage ridership. Phoenix is a perfect example of this. After all the hype and hoopla for the opening of the light rail system and the promise that it would cost EXACTLY the same as riding the bus (i hope everyone heard that right, because there still seems to be a question out there despite the hundreds of messages assuring us that there is no difference in fare), the city/Valley Metro announced only a month later that they were considering increasing transit fare.

This comes as no real surprise to me and i firmly believe that a fare hike is way overdue for this city (it's been the same $1.25 for over 14 years). But i find the timing annoyingly predictable. From a marketing standpoint, I knew there was no possible way Phoenix/Valley Metro would announce a fare increase prior to the light rail opening since that might destroy the momentum they had going for people wanting to take public transit over driving. The fact that the announcement of a fare hike nearly doubling the current fare and cuts in service came not even one month after the opening seems comical. Sort of like a bait and switch of values. But really, i'm totally fine with this since if you read one of my previous posts, i think the new transit-riding folk can definitely afford the fare hike. As for the people who have always taken the bus and dealt with all of its awkward growing pains, this inconvenience should pale in comparison to waiting at a bus stop mid-summer, 110 degrees out, no shade, a late, packed bus with a less-than functioning a/c system that breaks down halfway to your destination. And i certainly hope the city will be making available plenty of reduced-fare passes. I guess it is the harsh reality that when the economy starts to suck, many people complain about it but the people it screws with the most are the people who didn't have much to begin with.

Even though I know that most of the costly improvements to the transit system here were made more to benefit the middle, class, professional set than the ex-con, single mom, teenage, or lower income set, we are all reaping the benefits from it. Even long after people either return to their vehicles or find a way to ride transit when there are only other people like them riding it, we will still have a shade structure to keep us from dying from heat exhaustion and hopefully, a more intelligent, frequent system. Since public transit seems, to me, to be the ONLY solution to gas prices (and the soon-to-be scarcity of oil), traffic congestion, urban pollution and other environmental hazards, it will have to bounce back.

More from Valley Metro on the fare increases here.