Mass transit is not some sort of luxury – it’s a necessity for millions of people in order to go about their daily lives. Maybe they can’t afford a car, maybe for some reason they are not able to drive, perhaps they are concerned about pollution and wish to travel in a more environmentally sensitive way. Perhaps they are children. Perhaps they are older citizens. Only those who don’t rely on public transport look on public transport as a necessity for modern living. Which brings us to today’s song from Mindy Murray (of River Drivers) who wrote this typically direct and driven folk song in response to the threat of closure to The Trenton rail line as part of a rationalization of the rail offerings in the Philadelphia region. Isn’t it strange that rationalization never means putting on more trains and opening new routes?
It’s true that the plan has recently been altered due to a judicial intervention but as Mindy told Americana UK: “It is an ongoing struggle and the funding, which the judge called a “band aid” fix, takes money from the accounts that are used for maintenance and repairs. It’s really not a good position to be in.– and a 21.5% rate hike! This is really going to hurt the people who depend on mass transit.”
Using maintenance and repair money can only lead to a less reliable service, sticking 21.5% on the ticket price can only drive people away from using the service – and then what? Passenger numbers drop and the argument about closure returns. And the sad truth is that it is far easier to take services away than to restore or create them.
Countries which subsidise rail travel only see numbers increase – to everyone’s benefit. Take a look at Italy, or even the UK where the numbers of passengers where there has been massive investment have shown impressive growth (we’re looking at you Elizabeth Line, and we sure do have great hopes for HS2 – just get on with it Heidi Alexander!).
And, in case you were concerned that strict rules of demarcation have been crossed, we can confirm that written permission from the Video Editor has been obtained in order that this Track feature can use what is clearly a Video. He’s such a good egg.
