[TRTR] [Fwd: Re: help!]

[Coleen or Gary Ferguson]

I certainly don't watch the occupancy of the Chile Line "scientifically" but 
every time I see one of those vehicles, and I've seen many of them over the 
past 10 years, I've never, ever seen more than 3 passengers and usually it 
is zero passengers.  One exception is the TSV employee shuttle from KTAO to 
TSV in the morning and afternoon when the fares are probably paid by TSV. 
Otherwise, my eye witness account is not mythical to me.  Maybe there are 
some real statistics from the town that show revenue per vehicle mile versus 
total cost per vehicle mile... now that would tell you something... if that 
data is available I'll wager that it is "Top Secret"... LOL.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joanne Forman" <jofo at laplaza.org>
To: "Coleen or Gary Ferguson" <gnc at taosnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [TRTR] [Fwd: Re: help!]


> Thanks! As I have time, I'll check out these CO places and forward the 
> info.
>
> One of the aspects of the taxation thing is most people don't make the 
> connection between the taxes they pay and the services they get--and in 
> Taos (inadequate pub trans, inadequate sidewalks and etc.) we don't get 
> what we should. And there's the whole mythology to buck: "free enterprise" 
> "individualism" blah, blah. But! The idea of offering it free is 
> interesting.
>
> And it is mythology that the Chile Line is mostly empty. Depends upon the 
> time of day, what day, etc.
>
>
> Coleen or Gary Ferguson wrote:
>> For "destination resort" places... SF and Taos are the /_exceptions_ 
>> /rather than the rule in mass transit...  Dillon County in Colo has 
>> literally 100's of buses that provide transportation throughout the area 
>> at no fare to the riders.  This system serves, Copper, Breckenridge, 
>> Arapahoe, Keystone, and other ski areas as well as the entire "urban" 
>> area.  Durango is similar, Steamboat is similar, and there are many 
>> others.  It's kinda like the Health Care in Canada/France/England/.... 
>> taxes are higher but the services are much higher...   Our (NM) GRT is 
>> already higher than the "sales tax" in most other places for little or no 
>> service so there is a systemic difference that needs to be understood and 
>> improved before any meaningful shift occurs, IMHO.  In many of these 
>> places parking is provided at no additional charge as well. If you look 
>> at TSV; parking and the shuttles are provided at no incremental cost and 
>> utilization is very high... then compare this to the normally empty Chile 
>> Line Vehicles and you start to see a picture that tells a consistent 
>> story.  It would be really interesting to run the experiment of offering 
>> rides on the Chile Line for 6 months at no fare to the passengers.  If 
>> the use stays the same, that would really tell an insightful story.
>>  NM does have a constitutional challenge to "free"... the anti-donation 
>> clause.  But, somehow the RoadRunner Train has bypassed that little 
>> barrier to state funded transportation. just my $ 0.02 .
>>  thanks, G.
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Joanne Forman" <jofo at laplaza.org <mailto:jofo at laplaza.org>>
>> To: <trtr at lists.laplaza.org <mailto:trtr at lists.laplaza.org>>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 7:53 AM
>> Subject: [TRTR] [Fwd: Re: help!]
>>
>> >
>> >
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