If
The Public doesn't use a Public
Good,
is it still a Public
good? Or
is it now a Public Bad and can
now
be thrown
on the trash heap of
bad Public
Goods?
The
Tide, the 7-mile light rail line which begins and ends in Norfolk or
ends and begins in Norfolk,whichever
you prefer, is
viewed as a Public
Good.
Enthusiasts
prefer to call The Tide a starter line, a misnomer.
But
this Public
Good
is riderless, so obviously The Public isn't interested in using this
Public Good.
The
Tide is a Public Good, since anyone can
use it. Yet
not everyone in the region subsidizes
this
Public Good, as
they should.
Only
Norfolk pays millions of dollars each
year
to maintain and operate The Tide. No one else pays. No one, except
Norfolk's tax payers.
So viewed
another way, The Tide isn't a Public Good. It is a Political Good.
The
editorial writers of The Virginian-Pilot, assuming
the mien of neo-liberal
economists, want
Hampton Roads Transit, the region's public transit authority, to
lower The Tide's fares, not raise them. By
slashing fares, The
Pilot pundits say, from
$1.50 for a one way trip to 50 cents we, The Public, will begin to
ride The Tide again.
False.
Slashing fares
isn't the answer. Even if The Tide were free to ride, ridership would
still remain abysmal.
Why?
We don't have
the population.
Why?
Because
we still love our automobiles and trucks. These
emblems
of America give
us the freedom comfort and
class to
which we aspire.
Cars
and trucks today do everything but think and
drive your vehicle. You
almost wish they would so no one would
contract road rage, a fairly common malaise in America.
Cars and
trucks, despite the archaic image of gas guzzling monsters, are
fuel-efficient, technologically enticing and positively entertaining.
In economic
jargon, cars and trucks are substitutes. When gas is cheap, car and
truck sales explode and road use climbs.
Yet, as The
Pilot writers suggest, the real purpose of The Tide isn't to carry
people.
The Tide's
purpose always has been to drive development and redevelopment near
its stations, to make Norfolk more attractive to residents and
businesses. Light rail can provide an alternative to commuting for
some people, but urban vitality has always been the purpose for its
existence and the enormous cost.
So light rail
at a cost of $300 million and counting is “an alternative to
commuting for some people.”
The
Tide is a costly alternative for
“some people.” And only “some people” will ever ride The
Tide. Not only is The Tide a Political Good, it is an Exclusive Good.
Only “some people” will ride The Tide belies the weakness in the
argument to slash fares.
That
The Tide is about “urban vitality” underscores the
apathy of the argument rather than the verve of the intention.
Rather
than slash fares, Norfolk should double
its parking rates. If that fails, Norfolk should tear
down all its parking garages.
Of course,
this is Utopian folly.
Norfolk
is addicted to parking garages, financed
by a bevy of bond issues whose debt is paid by parking fees.
But
it is odd
that Norfolk, home of The Tide, the
only light rail system in the region,
also owns more parking spaces than any other city in the region.
Quite odd,
don't you think?
Philip I understand your point and where you're coming from, but I have to disagree on a few points. I spent time in two other resort areas this summer, Waikiki and Myrtle Beach, that have abysmal to non-existent public transportation. Tidewater lags behind these others in a variety of areas, some we can fix and some we can't, but one of our few, clear-cut wins over both is the ease of getting to our area and the relative ease of getting around once you are here. These advantages aren't a given however, and could be lost. With the gaps in season length, attractions, cost, amount of beach front and whatever else sends people to other beaches, other military attractions, other historical sites, and other amusement parks instead of coming here for all of them, if we abandon the advantages we do have, we may as well surrender our fate entirely to the military budget and that hasn't been working so well for us. The Tide is one component of an existing advantage upon which we can build through expansion of the lines.
ReplyDeleteForcing locals to use it by making parking a nightmare would only make the area less attractive to both year-round residents and visitors and, by extension, businesses and attractions looking to expand.
Also, I think residents of VB are increasingly using the Tide because the parking situation downtown is less a panacea than you seem to allow. Anytime there's a major draw downtown the Newtown park and ride lot overflows and the trains are often standing room only on these days and nights. My family and I use the Tide in this way several times a year and we pay the current price without much thought. I would agree that the price should not be reduced, but rather that there should be more going on in Norfolk to bring more people down and more stops on the line. I'd also like to see HRT add stands for ZipCar or a similar service near all stops, not to reduce cars, but to increase mobility around the area.
This would work in the other direction if the Tide were extended to the oceanfront where parking is a nightmare that keeps people away. In fact, Tide access to the strip would allow more people, more events, and more opportunity, as well as open the wider area to visitors to a particular city. I don't think we can do this fast enough if our highest goals as a metro area include increasing regionalism and drawing in more visitor dollars and investment from outside.
As to whether the Tide is a public good, I think it unquestionably is. Public goods are not meant to be profit centers. They are meant to improve quality of life. The Tide does that on a limited scale now and has the potential to do it on a much larger scale if we define the proper goals for the line get it done instead of spending years gazing into our belly buttons and wringing out hands. I assure you, Myrtle Beach and Ocean City are not going to wait for us.
Smart people can quibble over whether local transportation projects should be in the purview of various levels of government, but local government has no purpose if not to make the lives of its local citizens better. That includes public goods that by their nature don't make any money, but provide a better standard of living and enhance opportunity. The Tide does that and VB, Hampton, and Newport News all stand to benefit incredibly in terms of quality of life and expanding access to markets locally and beyond by getting behind it.
Time will tell whether the Tide will be a success, but too much time continuing along the same, slow paths will likely ensure that our region continues to have only one economic peer -- that other one industry town, Detroit.