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Hey, gang, let's crowdsource MBTA improvement
By adamg on Fri, 02/06/2015 - 4:18pm
Yep, this $30-billion GoFundMe campaign will go far - at least until it's taken down. Sponsor benefits include:
$50: a homeless man will scream your name on an Orange line car for 45 minutes during rush hour.
$200: you are given carte blanche to forcibly remove backpacks from passengers and throw them into the pit between platforms from the hours of 6am-9am and 3pm-7pm
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Comments
five bucks
i would love to see this go viral and actually become a thing, but somehow i'm thinking i'm going to be the only donation.
That's gold
Jerry, gold!
Go Fund Me pays out whatever
Go Fund Me pays out whatever is donated, unlike kickstarter, who only pay if you hit your goal. I'd be more likely to kick in a few bucks if I knew what they intend to do with the cash....
If that is the case...
Someone is gonna get quite a nice payout out of this joke~
Only $200??
If that was real I would pay it in a heartbeat. Such a great idea - pay to be able to: push door blockers onto the platform; incinerate bags taking up seats on a crowded train; bubblewrap people eating stinky food; clambox shrieking babies...they wouldn't even have to fix the system, it would be such an improvement to just eliminate the sociopaths. Although the Legoland would be pretty cool.
Baby Carriages
Don't forget ridding the T of entitled people with Urban Assault Baby Carriages.
The only
people I see on the T with baby carriages are poor, young women. And even then, they can't always fit on the bus or the train.
Can i get my very own Hyperloop for Washington St?
For only $3 Billion?
Where do I donate?
How About!
People actually pay their fare that will bring in about 100 million
Hey it might help...
This is a rather crass stunt -- the incentives being quite violent and obviously impermissible.
Much truth in jest, you know. I know of no "Friends of the MBTA." There ought to be!
The MBTA as it stands need to be radically changed. Adding in volunteer donations might be politically possible, given how starved for ideas we are...see for example that Panera cafe on Tremont.
The upper middle class enjoy the benefit of lowering their tax bills by throwing some change to the Opera or foundation of choice-- maybe that same benefit should be extended to the people who have to earn their bread for a living -- meaning working rather taking advantages of how they dispose with wealth.
If we could persuade wealthy donors nearby to break the brain rot of the politicians -- and if people who use the services could take ownership and make a connection with fixing the T, I am totally behind this.
However given the regional players and its already considerable privileges as a quasi governmental authority, I can see why it would never happen...
MBshiTA Revenue between $2 to $4 million per day!
The MBshiTA has a ridership over 1 million per weekday. 130 thousand just on the commuter rail.
They claim only $430 million in revenue per year but I know that is low. I bet the commuter rail brings in $700,000 per day. What about the money for parking?
I think the revenue per year is between 700 million and 1 billion $$$
So much money being embezzled and stolen.
Umm
Citation please! You cannot make broad statements like that without backing up your claim or you are full of hot air. I know many people on here would discredit this statement within 2 seconds.
Do the math.
Weekday ridership 1,297,650 x $2 x 240 = $311,436,000 per year
Thats not including weekends. Commuter rail fares are a lot more than $2.
They make more than they claim. MBshiTA is a cash cow for hacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay_Transportation_Authority#...
yeah
Come back when you have a link that isn't wikipedia, like MBTA Blue Book or links from their own website. Sorry Wikipedia is as faulty as a ford pinto
You also aren't talking about operating costs. Let's hear those too.
Frankly, you're just full of shit. I suggest stopping while you're head.
Most people do not pay that
Most people do not pay that $2.65 fare, nor do they pay the $2.10 Charlie Card fare.
Most people have monthly or weekly passes, or some other kind of discount.
Therefore you cannot assume that the average fare is $2. It is not.
The MBTA actually calculates the average fare paid per rider, taking all discounts and passes into account, and the most recent calculation showed it as just over $1 per rider for the subway lines.
So much for your conspiracy.
He already told you
'SO MUCH' money.
citation please
citation please. name names or it has to be false ! (big eye roll)
Your low end estimate is
$270 million away from the reported earnings.
That's entirely ridiculous.
MBTA publishes all their
MBTA publishes all their revenues and budgetary information on their website. Care you back up your statement with facts?
Your numbers are (kind of) right
According to the T's budget, they take in about $600 million dollars a year, a little bit (if one wants to count $170 million as a rounding error) off from your annual estimate. Of course, one cannot say that this revenue is brought in uniformly every day (less would come in on a summer Sunday, more would come in during a major event like a championship parade) so let's say it is $2 million a day, which is spot on for your estimated daily intake. That constitutes about 30% of the T's budget of roughly $2 billion. The largest source for income is the sales tax at roughly $800 million.
The budget is fascinating, and there are audited financials, too. Page 16 of the budget gives the figures.
Good work on the daily revenue figures, though!
No doubt there are tons of issues with the MBTA that need fixing
But having recently relocated from a major city on the west coast, it's f'n brilliant in comparison. Operators will actually answer questions! And, in general, are reasonably polite! That said, I would be thrilled if my tax dollars went to MBTA instead of, oh, I dunno, the Olympics or some developer's tax break.
Let us know which city you
Let us know which city you relocated from, if the MBTA looks good in comparison!!
Seriously though, when the system isn't completely failing like it did this week, it is not bad. *Some* of the bus and train drivers are nice and do go out of their way to be helpful. At least that has been my experience.
I have lived in places where there is functional public transit system and appreciate having it. My worry is that if the chronic underinvestment and mismanagement continues, anyone who can afford to will give up on it and switch to a car-based commute. That would have quite an impact on traffic patterns.
I meant to say above, "I have
I meant to say above, "I have lived in places where there is NO functional public transit system"...
srsly
I know, the fact that other systems are worse doesn't eliminate the very real problems the T has, but I use (avoid, mostly) the subway in a city of 25 million people. It recently had to shut down half of its newest, fanciest subway line because it was just designed and built poorly. This is one of the biggest cities in the world and at rush hour, you can literally feel it. And that's without even mentioning what happens to the metro during the rainy season!
Every time I'm back in Boston I just want to do giddy twirls on the subway I feel so luxurious.