The A-Train Running Empty

While waiting at an intersection, a commuter train came rumbling past. Having just read where the first week surpassed expectations because of free fares, I was interested to see how many “happy, paper-reading, non-stressed” commuters would be on the train.

Another article in the DMN discussed how poorly DART has predicted ridership on their trains. In every instance they had to revise the numbers downward. In other words, what they guessed proved to be overly optimistic. It also said every station had ridership less than when the stations first opened.

Of course, our great predictor of future behavior must be much smarter than DART’s.

On the northbound train at about 3pm on a Tuesday the entire train was EMPTY. At first I thought “those jokesters are all lying down in those comfy seats taking naps so no one could see them”. Then realized if they did that they would miss the scenery and the joy of watching cars meander down the highway.

Here’s a thought, rather than telling us how many people ride the train, tell us the percentage of seats actually sat in. In other words, give us a cheek-to-seat ratio.

Having 3,000 people ride the train in a week sounds pretty good. Until we learn that there were another 20,000 empty seats which is about 13% - not so good. Also, the number of full-fare riders would be telling also. Having deep discounted tickets is fine for a movie, but not when it is the taxpayer’s money.

For some reason lyrics in a song by the Kingston Trio comes to mind - "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?"

Thank you Mr. Obama

Finally, a reason I can be thankful Mr. Obama is our non-resident president. Thanks to him I will be eligible for Medicaid beginning in 2014. In the “we have to pass it to see what’s in it” healthcare bill there is a provision that anyone who makes less than $64,000, is drawing Social Security and not eligible for Medicare will be eligible for Medicaid.

That means I can start Social Security early at 62 and have free healthcare. Of course, that means I don’t need health insurance at work so my employees may not be happy. Also, to make sure I make less than $64,000 I may have to let a couple of them go (I’ll call it “retirement incentive”) so we are less productive. I will probably have to use a CPA instead of TurboTax to make sure I have all the credits and deductions available to keep my income low.

However, since it doesn’t happen until 2014 that means if a Tea Party activist Republican is elected President and those mean-spirited cut taxes and don’t spend conservatives get control of Congress they may take it away. Can you imagine a hard-working, middle class, early retiree not having free healthcare like all the poor, lower class, single moms with a bunch of kids? Or the drug addicts who have kidney failure?

They would be forced to take away something I’ve worked all my life to attain – being a burden to my children and grandchildren.

What’s a conservative to do?