Wet blanket or Watchdog?

Some folks have a lot of enthusiasm for government. They believe that it should be able to fix every problem. However, government isn't always the answer.

Consider MassRIDES, a government funded program that helps commuters find carpools, saving people money and reducing highway congestion. MassRIDES touts some 13,000 people in their database. Sounds like a worthy, successful program, right?

Not really. Only 38 percent of commuters in the database - less than 5,000 people - have found matches. Put another way, 62 percent of commuters failed to find a match. Moreover, the Greater Boston area has approximately 4.4 million people. If only 10 percent of that population (a conservative estimate of 440,000 people) commute 30 minutes or more to work, then MassRIDES has done nothing for 99 percent of commuters.

Moreover, in 2000 there were approximately 170,000 cars using the Southeast Expressway every day. In 2004, that number climbed to 190,000. If all 5,000 of those matches represent cars removed from the Expressway, there was still an increase of 15,000 cars on that road.

Only in government would all this be considered successful. In my book it's an abject failure.

Contrast MassRIDES with the MIT Club and their "Share a Ride" program. Instead of using more public funds on an obviously unsuccessful public program, these folks made a better mousetrap.

What is the MassRIDES annual budget? I posed that question during the selectmen's meeting last night, but I didn't get an answer. A few more questions come to mind today...
* Out of all of the "partners" in Falmouth who have signed up with MassRIDES, how many employees have found matches?
* What is the rate of success?
* How many cars have been removed from Cape Cod roads?

I'm all for carpooling and public transportation - there was a time when I used the commuter rail and T daily to get to work in Boston. However, every taxpayer-funded program needs to show results. There has to be some yardstick by which we measure success and if the program is not successful, fix it or cut it.

When I went to school, 38 percent was an 'F'.