I was watching the news tonight in Cleveland and the new crisis here is that there's not enough buses for all the people riding them to work.  The RTA says they are spending too much on fuel and that new buses cost money which they don't have.  I guess it will be at least another year before they can add more vehicles.  Now What?  They tell people to take public transportation and now there's more people than buses. They showed people on the news signing petitions against the RTA and they said they've been calling to complain but it's getting them absolutely no results. Are other cities having this problem?  Does anyone have a solution for this new crisis for 2008?

WOW THATS SOUNDS LIKE CHICAGO(when i used 2 live there)THEY NEEDED MONEY FROM THE RTA 2 BAIL THE CTA & CTA'S BUSES WOULD BREAK DOWN...U KNOW NO AER,OR HEAT.........

 Yes, I do, but the RTA (MTA in my area) won't like it....

Funds were requested from the Federal Gov't to create more buses/rails/busways.  There are bout 15 plans in action that have been petitioned, but the funds were not utilized to it's fullest potential, due to poor management.  The MTA claimed a surplus in late October/early November, and raised the  paychecks of those making the major decisions, but did little to improve what was there, let alone finish the "new" projects that it bragged about.  The irony of it all was that by December, the MTA claimed that there was not enough money to finish the 15 plans that were already being started.  It makes me wonder if the request of funds from the government was made specifically so that raises/bonuses could be issued by diverting funds with false claims and the budget supplementation.  Earlier this year, MTA approached the city for money, but was refused unless a certain deadline for the projects could be met.   The city was smart.

Personally, I think that those in the MTA who make decisions should be forced to ride the public transportation for 1 month a year.  Too bad that the government hasn't made a law stating that those who provide public services must participate in them for 30 days out of the year.  I bet the riders' quality and money management quality would rise tremendously.   

THATS RIGHT!! U TELL EM... IBET U THAT THE BUS DRIVERS, TRAIN CONDUCTORS DID'NT GET PART OF THAT MONEY.. AND THE HOTSHOT SUITS SHOULD RIDE 4 ONE MONTH JUST 2 C THE CONDISTIONS THAT THEIR RIDERS HAVE 2 DEAL WITH.....

THATS RIGHT!! U TELL EM... IBET U THAT THE BUS DRIVERS, TRAIN CONDUCTORS DID'NT GET PART OF THAT MONEY.. AND THE HOTSHOT SUITS SHOULD RIDE 4 ONE MONTH JUST 2 C THE CONDISTIONS THAT THEIR RIDERS HAVE 2 DEAL WITH.....

THATS RIGHT!! U TELL EM... IBET U THAT THE BUS DRIVERS, TRAIN CONDUCTORS DID'NT GET PART OF THAT MONEY.. AND THE HOTSHOT SUITS SHOULD RIDE 4 ONE MONTH JUST 2 C THE CONDISTIONS THAT THEIR RIDERS HAVE 2 DEAL WITH.....

Just one more reason that shows how corrupt governments are.  They say whatever they have to in order to not do something, or to cover something that they already did.

No heat or air on a bus is more than what I could take.

No heat or air on a bus is more than what I could take.

 That's an interesting problem.  I started riding the bus two weeks ago after I returned from Alabama.  When I first rode it, there was only about 10 or less people on the bus for my route.  Now, the bus is almost full.  In just two weeks I've seen a huge hike in ridership.  I can only speculate if the trend continues, our transit authority will run into the same crisis.  Our train is already full.  A new train was just completed that has more riders than they anticipated.  So we'll see how it pans out here.  Sorry to hear about more people pocketing government money instead of doing what's right for the people.  Seems the "high ups" in each company only want to make their pockets fatter and fatter at the expense of the government and the people.  Corruption is disgusting.

interesting

But the thing is.....if ridership is just shooting up off the charts, then the transit authority shouldn't be saying, we don't have any money to buy new buses....what about the extra thousands of passengers a day paying like 2 or 3 bucks.  That is thousands of dollars a day in extra cash receipts they didn't have just a month or two ago.

Use this extra cash to buy some buses...it's not like you have to pay cash up front for them.

BICYCLES ARE THE ANSWER,WOULD HELP FIGHT OBESITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT.BACK TO BICYCLE STOCKS

Sandman, bicycles are nice but not always practical.  

Some people have to commute two hours each day by car to their jobsite.  To take a bike would be absolutely impractical.  If everything in a city was as close together as they are in many parts of Europe, then a bike would be great.  I loved biking everywhere in Germany.  But you have to consider where others live and how it works best for them.  

 As for the hike in ridership...did RTA hike up your rates as well?  Our transportation authority hiked our rates (as ridership increased) citing only higher gas prices for the reason.  I'm sure now they are making even more of a profit than they possibly ever could have before. Seems like buying more buses would be a good thing for the economy, since they'd have to higher more drivers.