[graciegirl]

[QUOTE=justjim;1206300]Transportation systems lose money. Who would pay? Without Government support, most transportation systems would close down today. Government support for a bus/train or whatever in TV----forget it. This might look good but when you peel back the layers it becomes less and less practical.

QUOTE]



You are correct. This says that municipal transportation systems typically only fund about a third of their operating costs from fares.


Public Transportation Funding: The Basics

[SCasey]

One of the things that surprised me when we first looked at TV was that there wasn't any sort of public transportation. I imagined a place this big would have some sort of shuttle. Maybe press those sales trolleys into service starting at 3:00 PM and run until 11:00 or something.

[tomwed]

Operating Costs

In addition to paying for the bus, transit agencies have to pay to operate the bus. Usually we talk about the operating cost per revenue hour - how much does it cost to drive a bus in service for one hour? Some examples of operating costs include New York City ($172.48 for bus and $171.48 for subway); Los Angeles ($124.45 for bus, $330.62 for the Red Line subway, and $389.99 for the light rail lines); Honolulu ($118.01); Phoenix ($92.21); and Houston ($115.01 for bus and $211.29 for light rail). Learn more about the operating cost differences between buses and light rail transit vehicles .

Of the above costs, a majority is the cost of employee wages and benefits - about 70%. In addition to drivers, transit agencies employ mechanics, supervisors, schedulers, human resource staff, and other administrative employees. Some transit systems attempt to save money by contracting out to private operators, which is discussed more in my three part series about privatization in public transit . Of the above examples, New York City, Los Angeles, and Houston operate service directly while Honolulu and Phoenix contract out all of their service to a private company.

Lest you think that transit costs less to operate in smaller cities, it still costs $108.11 in Lansing, MI but only $69.27 in Bakersfield, CA and around $44 for Beach Cities Transit, which operates three routes in an around the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach. Again, all of these costs can be expected to keep rising at a rate at least equal to inflation every year.

I gotta think we would more like Bakersfield, CA. We are not going to pay the drivers very much. They own the busses now and I know there is the total cost of ownership. In four hours how many miles would a bus go connecting the Squares?

Tie it into sales in the daytime during most months of the year. Are the busses filled on the off season?

[HoosierPa]

If Uber (or night time shuttle) were available in TV, we would use it regularly to get from Brownwood to SS and Vice versa getting home.

Why not start by trying 1 trolley certain nights each week (which developer already owns) at 5 pm returning at 9:15 from Brownwood to SS and then use the same one at 5:30 from SS to Brownwood returning SS at 9:45ish

We would be willing to pay $5 per person or so. Can't imagine that you would not be able to fill it up - try it for a month. Not really a big deal or expense. A whole lot different scale than a full blown city transit system.

[fromct]

I hope the good folks at Villages Transportation don't read this thread and start to wonder how they're staying in business. Maybe the 'Developer' is subsidizing them as one of our 'unseen' amenities???

[rubicon]

Rubiconomics: Looking over the horizon it is going to get more costly to operate and maintain this community. suggestions on just how to do that more efficiently and effectively are most welcome. We do that as residents and we accomplished the impossible.

[looneycat]

Originally Posted by goodtimesintv

How do you know that?

We go to one, and often two town squares almost every night, to have dinner and watch the bands and dance. We live closest to LSL, and so if we like the band better at Spanish Springs or Brownwood, we go to one of those. We might dine at one square and go to enjoy music at the other for a couple of hours until 9pm when the bands finish.

A big reason to take a shuttle between squares is the time it takes to get there by golf cart. It's a long haul, going from north of 466 to Brownwood, and vice versa.

Faster transport by trolley bus would give people far more options of where to spend their time. Not everyone plants themselves for the whole night at one bar or in one square to enjoy the live entertainment.

Shuttles between squares would also alleviate parking (far away) at Spanish Springs when The Sharon has concerts and events with 1,000 attendees.

let's see, how do i know that? how can you not?? how are trolleys, whose purpose is strictly PR and go all over the villages and not just to squares, to also ferry people to all the squares?? 2 different routes. now normally that would mean you need more vehicles since they can't be in two places at once, can they? well what do you know? I honestly don't see how anything else you said relates to needing more vehicles if you are trying to use the trolleys as shuttles. plus the trolleys are the developers' property and not public transit.

[Bonny]

For those who say they would be happy to pay, why not just call the Village Taxi ? You can even get picked up at your homes so you won't even have to worry about driving to a square.