ASHEVILLE, N.C.
I smell a rat
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I’m confused. Is the author promoting violence, intimidation and bullying to fix the bus problem? This is a bad cartoon.
Yea I had to read it a few times and it seems to me he is advocating for the City to get tough with the Transit Company. I believe the City has the authority to fine the company for poor service which they have not done so to date. While the system isn’t perfect it is better than it was and it’s future seems bright. What ART needs is increased ridership from middle class workers who would normally drive but could choose to ride the bus out of a moral concern for their community and the planet. As with any business increasing the customer base smooths out many of the internal issues. While many can’t use the bus it’s incumbent on those who can ride the bus to do so if we are ever going to alleviate the congestion on our local roads. Unfortunately the cost of driving and parking in Asheville is to cheap which encourages people to drive unnecessarily.
‘Asheville Redefines Transit’ … I like it. Redefined to be too expensive for the results.
And what of the highly subsidized automobile infrastructure?
LOL you mean taxes are like supposed to go towards infrastructure instead of BS? You ever travel to the neighboring states? Ever notice how much better the roads are? It’s because they use the money to do actual road maintenance. Here they use it for fluff.
I’ve lived in several States and all the roads seem the same to me. Our entire countries automobile infrastructure is subsidised due to drivers not being charged the full cost of their mode choice. I have said this before and it is easily validated with a quick google search and so hopefully I won’t have to repeat it again after this. Drivers do not pay their way and our transportation infrastructure is underfunded. Many large Cities around the world have toll roads, congestion pricing, high parking fees, ect to cover the cost of the destructive automobile and to fund an extensive mass transit system to move it’s people around. And please spare me the “We pay taxes but they waste our money on fluff”speech. Fluff is just code for something you don’t agree with.
I’m no expert, but I think this cartoon could be referring to statements made in this recent article:
https://mountainx.com/news/transit-management-draws-criticism-at-city-council-meeting/
“…a representative of the Better Buses Together campaign, said the city could be doing more to hold RATP Dev, the independent company that manages the ART, accountable for service improvements. She pointed out that transit activists had worked closely with the city to develop a management contract that penalized missed hours and other problems.
“That management contract isn’t worth anything if we aren’t enforcing it,” Meath said. “We didn’t enforce liquidated damages; we didn’t enforce the management company having the correct number of mechanics. We haven’t pressed the company, and we need to do that.”
So, it could simply be a case of the cartoon being a metaphor for the city holding the RATpDEV more accountable, and not literally advocating violence against rats or third party management services, but then again, I am no expert on bad cartoons, or bad cartoon comprehension for that matter.