Moreover, none of the factors that led to these declines–low fuel prices, high auto ownership rates, rising costs, increasing competition from ride-hailing services–are going away, and some are only going to get worse. '.several major transit agencies lost 25 to 35 percent of their riders between 20, and most of these continued to lose in 2017. Today, New Geography published this commentary by Randal O'Toole on declining ridership at transit agencies across the nation. Randal O'Toole reports on declining national transit ridership: Young avers, then others at HART must have been involved in the 'red flags,' so why is a forensic audit still not essential? Young discovered something subsequent to the audit he performed that changed his mind? Young not call for such an audit when Mr. Grabauskas were still in office he would call for a forensic audit. Honolulu's City Auditor Edwin Young is a recipient of the national Association of Government Accountants' Distinguished Local Government Leadership Award so it is with some trepidation that I comment on his reported remarks in this morning's Star Advertiser. Our comments on the City Auditor's remarks: Today's column in the Star Advertiser by David Shapiro is well thought advice for the legislature on why they must wait for the results of the HART audit before approving any future funding for rail. Rail Transit and the Pattern of Modern Cities: The California Case. Thus, rail passenger trains provide an inferior service with respect to income, analogous to potatoes, farinaceous foods, and other inferior goods, consumption of which decreases with increments in income.' 'An increase of one percent in family income will typically reduce the family's use of rail passenger service by 0.6 percent.

One of our favorite quotes is that from the late UCLA Economics and Transportation Professor George Hilton who in classing rail transit as what economists call 'inferior goods' once wrote:

This is very carefully documented analysis that does not analyse Honolulu's situation, but we will provide that shortly. Transit Apocolypse, CATO Senior Fellow, Randall O'Toole, discusses the present state of the nation's public transportation and shows irrefutably that in the light of current trends and the future effects of autonomous cars and buses that public transportation is not sustainable and might collapse as early as 2030. This is a most interesting short article that is well worth your time reading it.ĬATO's O'Toole forecasts the coming collapse of public transportation:

He gives details of the $100 billion shortfall in rail maintenance funds nationwide and links to the Department of Transportation site that discusses the shortfall city by city. Commuters will be in driverless cars by then.' Last Stop on the Light-Rail Gravy Train Mayors want new lines that won’t be ready for a decade. The Wall Street Journal today features O'Toole's 'I t’s the Wall Street Journal features O'Toole's forecasts: The Editorial Board of Civil Beat has today endorsed the idea of reconsidering the rail route to end at Middle Street in light of the current negative impact of Uber and Lyft on TheBus ridership and its portent of the effects of what autonomous vehicles are going to have on public transportation generally. General Motors and the Demise of StreetcarsĬivil Beat joins us in reconsidering rail route:

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