|
|
| Re: Yankees Parade = Staten Island Transit Disaster (853796) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: Yankees Parade = Staten Island Transit Disaster |
|
|
Posted by Michael549 on Sun Nov 8 12:06:30 2009, in response to Re: Yankees Parade = Staten Island Transit Disaster, posted by Bill From Maspeth on Sun Nov 8 06:34:52 2009. The majority of folks using the SIR ride between the ferry and their destination, so the "free rides" myth is not as much as some folk like to make it. Yes, there are some (a small number) of riders who ride free between the stations, but often those folks use the buses, and their fare is captured that way. At the Tompkinsville station, they are building a brand new fare building to collect the fares of those entering and leaving the station. So the nearest station where this supposed myth takes will soon be out of the equation. Those folks who were claiming that there are plenty of "free rides to the ferry" will now have to come up with a different myth. The next nearest station, Stapleton is a great distance away from the ferry, and in no way is desirable for a free trip to the ferry.Since Manhattan is an island, Long Island (containing Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk) is an island, and of course, Staten Island is an island - that leaves only the Bronx as a part of the MAINLAND. There is a myth that persists that Staten Island is some far off mystical place somehow not really a part of New York City. Stop it - we pay New York City taxes just like everyone else, and therefore deserve the services just like everyone else in NYC. Plenty of the buses have riders not only to and from the ferry and their destination, but also riders along the route who get on and off between the end points. There is a degree of turnover of riders on the buses, because (a) I have seen it, and (b) I'm a part of it. During the discussion on Staten Island separating itself from NYC during the early 1990's, there was the discredited suggestion that Staten Island could not make it on its own financially. That suggestion was disproved in major ways, but the myth of it shows up every now and then. Not that Staten Island should separate - it would not change much, except bring in a new cast of cronies. What the transportation situation on Staten Island shows, and it can be said for the city as a whole - if a rail transit facility was not built and operated during the hey-day of transit building 1900-1930's it would not be built later. Witness the problems with the building of the Second Avenue subway and other facilities. Add in the shrinkage of transit over the decades as a factor, plus the love affair with the car. Mike |
|
|
|