In my travels there are few kind words said of the Metropolitan Council, even by Democrats. We on the right think they meddle needlessly and by the way there's this no taxation without representation thing. But there are critics on the left, too, who generally like the concept but think they should be much more involved and forceful, like on combating urban sprawl. It's an insider's game where the connected command political power without having to actually run for office.
The premise is apparently that the metropolitan cities and counties can't be expected to work together without some superstructure guiding or goading them. I see no evidence of this nor did the original proponents I dare say. I think the charge of meddling is now valid as a number of cities would attest.
We can't dispose of it entirely as it runs the metro-wide sanitary sewer system. But a simple joint powers arrangement will suffice, with members appointed by each county. Now, other than Metro Transit, everything can go, fully repealed. So what about public transit?
I'll differ with many in my party, but I think at least a nominal bus system is an expected, almost essential aspect of city life. What we can do without are the experts, the ones who dream up wildly expensive rail projects for example. They build fancy park and ride lots in the second tier surburbs and beyond while ignoring their core urban customers. Perhaps the busiest transfer point in the Twin Cities is at 7th and Nicollet. Is there a shelter? Are there benches? Are there "NexTrip" signs like on Marquette and 2nd Avenue for the suburban riders? No, one, and no. We get to stand in the cold and the rain, peering at a printed schedule lazy susan type display on a sign pole.
In so many ways, the Metropolitan Council deserves a flaming F for their performance on transit. To be fair, the Met Council did not absorb the first public body, the Metropolitan Transit Commission until 1994. But over these 40 years of public ownership, we have replaced that private system that turned a profit at 30 cents a ride into a $2.25 experience that actually costs more like $7 a ride. They've also done a great job chasing the middle class away from public transit. Car technology and creature comforts have made enormous strides that Metro Transit has all but ignored. In fact, with Light Rail we've gone backwards in time. About the only upgrade is air conditioning but even that it is unreliable, uneven and noisy. Better technology is clearly available, like that used by some "opt-out" suburban lines, government bodies that should also be totally questioned.
Ultimately, transit shoud be returned to the private sector. If there must be transit welfare, let it be expressly thus, where the welfare agency pays the full fare to the private operators. Meanwhile, "on demand" and other now technically possible alternatives can be explored that truly might take people where and when the want to go, and comfortably. Fixed rails and fixed schedules are fixed costs. We need the vibrancy of the free market to truly match supply and demand.
A joint powers body can take over transit, perhaps including the "opt-outs" above, but with a clear sunset provision that ends it by, say, 2020. With sewers and transit so covered, the Metropolitan Council can now be disbanded with hardly anyone noticing them not doing the work few knew they were even doing.
Yes!!! Carve this up!!
Posted by: Rikta11 | Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 10:23 AM