Austin Needs Public Transport? LOL

Austin apparently needs public transportation, because reasons. I mean, we're the 11th-largest city in the US and apparently that means we need buses and trains for the libs to virtue signal about.

Back in 1985, voters in Austin approved the creation of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro). 'Cause, you know, government bureaucrats know best. They also approved a 1% sales tax hike, because why not throw more money at the problem? Fast forward to 2024, and that 1% tax is raking in almost $400 million. That's a lot of cash to fund the woke agenda.

But here's the thing, fares alone won't cover the cost of the public transit system. Surprised? I mean, it's not like people in Austin actually want to take the bus. Even in good old 1990, Cap Metro’s ridership was only 31.2 million total boardings. And despite all the population growth, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership was even lower, at 30.5 million. Seems like a great use of taxpayer dollars, huh?

Over the years, Cap Metro has collected and spent almost $4 billion in sales tax revenues, and yet ridership has stagnated. But sure, let's keep throwing money at it.

The author, some woke ex-politician, wants us to believe he's a fiscal conservative now, talking about "smart investments" and "cost-benefit analysis." Give me a break. He's just mad his pet project, Project Connect, is a total failure. It was supposed to have 81,700 daily riders, but now it's down to less than 30,000 at a whopping cost of $7.1 billion. That's an increase of over 500% in cost per rider. Way to go, lib!

Meanwhile, San Antonio is doing it right with their bus rapid transit system, achieving similar ridership at a fraction of the cost. But no, Austin has to be special and waste billions on a light rail system that nobody uses.

With that kind of money, we could actually solve real problems in this city. We could hire more cops to deal with the crime wave, improve our energy and water infrastructure, and maybe even give hard-working taxpayers a break. But no, let's just keep funding woke projects that benefit nobody.

Project Connect is a prime example of liberal incompetence and waste. It's a project that will serve the few while sticking it to the many with a forever property tax increase. Thanks, libs.

[Daugherty, some soy boy, used to be a Travis County Precinct 3 Commissioner. All the facts in this roast were validated by his office in 2020, using data from the lib pages of Capital Metro.]