by Jimmy Ojeda
On Sunday March 9th, 2014 the Arizona Daily Star reported on the concern that exists among bar owners and UA students regarding the hours of operation for the streetcar. They would prefer “running the street car as late as – or later than – 2 am., making it more convenient for late-night riders along the bar heavy route, which connects the UA campus to Fourth Avenue and downtown.”
The current plan is for the streetcar to run until midnight on Thursdays and Fridays and until 2 a.m. on Saturdays.
The street car has already cost close to $200 million. The cost of extending the current streetcar hours is unknown.
City Council members and bureaucrats have continually acted like they don’t know who will pay for the maintenance and operation of the streetcar. And now they need more money to extend the hours?
Who is really going to pay for all this? And who is it going to benefit?
For sure neither the UA nor the bar owners are going to pay for it! But they sure will be the ones who benefit the most.
The answer is taxpayers, and bus riders. This is what we call development, and our Mayor and Council call economic development, but for whom?
The city is considering increasing the fares for bus riders, developing the Ronstadt Transit Center, all of this in order to pay for the street car, and for drunken students.
Bus drivers don’t let any drunk person ride the bus, why would they let drunk students in the streetcar? Is that some type of privilege, or discrimination?
This is a slap in the face of poor bus riders that depend on the bus for their livelihood. What a lack of values and morals. Is this really going to happen?