Metro Fare Increase

The following is being posted here and has been sent to all members of the Los Angeles City Council. Normally, I find public postings such as this annoying, but I think it's important to take a stand on this one...

To Whom It May Concern:

Thanks for offering us the opportunity to write and/or
email in our opinions about the upcoming fare
increase. As somebody who has moved back to Los
Angeles from the suburbs specifically because of the
fantastic system of Metro Rail that has been built
here in the city, I am really upset about the fare
increase, not so much because of the actual cost,
which I can afford, but because I am afraid this fare
increase might dissuade people from even trying to
leave their cars.

Let's face it, most middle-class Angelenos have to be
lured to try public transit in our automobile-ridden
city, and higher fares just are not the way to get
them to try Metro Rail. Basically the message behind
increasing fares is that those people who are using
public transportation should be penalized for doing
so, hardly a way to boost Metro ridership. Indeed, if
anything, Metro fares should be decreased in order to
promote civic responsibility through using public
transit.

Of course, I shouldn't also have to point out the
obvious damage this fare increase will do to
working-class Angelenos, many of whom already subsist
in this city under the poverty line, although it's
hard to imagine how.

Instead of taxing those of us who use public
transportation, perhaps it's time we consider tolls on
some of our massively-clogged freeways leading into
and out of our metropolis, a step already taken in
other major U.S. and world cities of comparable size
to our own. In an era when global warming captures
headlines, such a step, although unpopular and, yes,
inconvenient, is clearly the right thing to do in this
instance.

The ultimate question is: Is Los Angeles going to
accept responsibility for its transportation problems
and make the hard choice or will it continue to make
choices detrimental to the vast majority of its
citizens? Are we following the lead of other major
cities and fully-supporting public transportation, or
are we going to continue complaining about traffic as
we sit in our air-conditioned houses, completely
disconnected from the urban metropolis around us?

The decision now lies with you. Make the right call.

Thank you,

Brandon Gabriel Abraham