It might have been great when you were here, but it has done nothing but go downhill since. Prices are skyrocketing every year, there are more escalators that do not work than there are that do, trains are falling apart, the stations have gotten dirty and they aren't hiring enough people to keep them clean, and they are cutting service so there are not as many trains running and some stations are even shut down on weekends. All of this while Metro leadership talks about how their ridership is declining. Well... isn't that shocking...

It has gotten to the point where the only thing that makes driving more expensive than taking the metro is if I have to park somewhere that costs a lot. Otherwise, I will gladly sit in traffic rather than take the metro. And when public transit gets to that point, then what is the point?

The problem is that any public transportation system not only needs to get the funding to get built, but it also needs to have enough funding to be maintained. And in order to do that, there has to be enough of a reason to use it so that people use it rather than driving. In Anchorage, people love their cars. And no public transportation system will ever be able to cover all of Anchorage - hillside, Potter Valley, Gov Hill, etc. So there is no way it would ever become vast enough to be viable for the majority - or even a large portion - of the city. In my opinion the only way something like light rail or other public transit would work would be if it was targeted to a specific population - like maybe specifically to get people from Eagle River into downtown and midtown or something like that. But then they would also have to build up all the side walks and bike paths around those areas so that people who don't work right next to the station would be able to travel to their work place in some way other than driving.