14 Comments

  1. So Raleigh provides free bus service to shuttle rich, white, drunks around downtown, but makes poor people pay $1 to ride the bus that gets them to work.

    Priorities!

  2. Man, don’t know how many times i’ve said that as i get on the bus to go to work in the mornings

  3. if it were up to be all local bus service in DT would be free. Having said that the drunkards that ride the R Line are the ones keeping the businesses open that provide the tax revenue to keep all the buses free or cheap anyway.

  4. I for one think the R-line is one of the best additions to Downtown Raleigh but of course I live downtown, I am white, and like to get drunk occasionally.

  5. Interesting racially motivated comment by Chris. While I think all are welcome to ride the R line (and I think that especially with the convention center open it is a great idea), the economics major in me digested it for a while.

    So, this is what I decided.

    First, the $1 fair is surely not enough to fully pay for the CAT bus service, so it is subsidized by tax payers. If the riders are in fact poor, then whatever color they are, it is likely that aside from sales taxes and social security taxes, that they are paying any state or federal taxes. So, for $1 they get subsized transportation. And, as working poor, there is also a chance that the rider qualifies for a program to offset the $1 charge.

    Second, with respect to the R line. For arguments sake, lets assume that all riders are in fact revelers having a night on the town and not someone who finds it convenient as a mode of transportation to/from work. Whatever color they are, they would be spending money downtown – a boost to downtown businesses, and also paying sales taxes. So while the R line is free, the cost to the city may be offset in part or in total by these taxes (giving effect to the multiplier effect – the local business pays its employees, they pay taxes, the business may pay rent, the landlord pays taxes, etc.) and in fact the city (hopefully) may even come out ahead. The R line also makes visiting downtown easier, because it reduces the hassle of having to park, and then re-park if you decide to go from Glenwood South to Fayetteville Street.

    After thinking of the R line in these terms, I am an even greater fan of it.

  7. so much for my quick typing – under the First paragraph, I also meant “unlikely” not likely.

  8. Chris doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about. Everytime I’ve been on the R-Line, at least half of the people on it were African-American.

    Many of them are using the stops along Wilmington Street to go to some of the black-owned businesses there.
    Not to mention the R-Line has a convenient Amtrak stop, Moore Square Bus station stop, and another stop near the Greyhound station. Also a stop only a block from Shaw. And just about every weekday between 4:30 and 5, you’ll see a small group of African-American men at the West Street stop waiting to be picked up (I think they work at the City maintenance yards on Peace).

    True, the Friday & Saturday night crowd is full of nighttime revelers (the types that spend money at downtown restaurants and bars), but at other times, the R-Line provides an excellent service to people who work downtown or live around it.

    So much for Chris’s theory. :-P

  9. I don’t even see the need to point out that the people who go out on Friday and Saturday or white. Last time I was out, the population looked pretty diverse to me.

    What’s the point? If you are going to criticize the R-Line (which less some minor routing issues) is a great idea for any city trying to develop an inner core, it’s the 21st century. There is no need to pointlessly add race into the issue.

  11. Thanks for the photo, Leo. I am happy to see people flooding Glenwood South, especially during the weekends and I cannot wait to see West and Harrington Streets getting some action, in the future. The R-Line is definitely a plus for our downtown and serves many people.

  12. Chris,

    I go down there and I am not a rich white kid. You sound ignorant/a racist! Looks like “Obama Hussein” needs to start paying attention to those racist’s aganist white drunks.

  13. Ha! Chris maybe your energy should be put to better use: feed the poor, help orphaned children, or help old people cross the street?

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