The America’s Cup is coming to San Francisco. It should be great fun and draw a lot of spectators to the city by the bay. They are concerned about parking and congestion so they are planning to have regional park and ride hubs where people can park and then ride buses and other public transport into the city. Sounds good. Read the article here.
Of course then they ruin it.
The plan calls for paying for the increased service with fundraising.
Let’s see, people are coming to watch a sport that is arguably the most expensive pastime on the planet. They are going to one of the most expensive cities on earth. They are being asked to park outside the city so congestion will be kept to a minimum. Can’t they pay for their own transportation into the city.
The city is holding ‘fundraisers’ to cover the cost of the increased service. Maybe I just don’t understand, but if they have to increase service, aren’t a lot of people going to be using the buses and trains? If so, shouldn’t those people pay for the privilege.
They should pay to park at the ‘regional hubs’ and pay for the transport into the city. Or it should be included in the parking fee. Are they afraid that people won’t park at the ‘hubs’ if they have to pay. A good PR program should make that problem go away. Something like “There is no room to park in the city so park in the hub and avoid the mess.” That should be an easy sell.
Raising money from fundraisers so people can park and ride to watch the yacht races, nonsense.
JVH