Quote Originally Posted by betts View Post
Improving the bus system and expanding the police force don't require ongoing maintenance and/or costs?
It's simply a political charade to in one breath challenge the streetcar project by questioning operations and maintainence funding, and in the same breath argue that we should be substantially expanding the bus system, which would require even greater operations and maintenance funding. The truth of the matter is that while rail transit investments have higher initial capital costs, they have much lower annual operating and maintenance costs than buses. In the long run, its the bus system O&M that consumes most transit system budgets. In fact, the estimated annual operating and maintenance costs for the enhanced bus system recommended for Oklahoma City by Carter-Burgess in 2005 was approximately $60 million. In today's dollars, it would be even higher. The estimated annual operating and maintenance costs for the initial streetcar system is about $3 million, which is less than 1% of the City's annual operating budget. We can afford the latter. The former would break the bank.