Build the highways, let EVERYONE benefit from dollars spent. I understand the convenience of trains. I took them around Europe also, and, off peak, were running almost empty. I won't argue that it was not a nice way of getting around, but I was riding for pennies at the expense of the taxpayers over there. Any efficiency was lost when you factor that into the average.
Rails are OK when you have a lot of people taking the same route at the same time. We don't always have that. They are expensive but make pols look good until you see the price tag. You might like the maglev train they were working on at Old Dominion U. Unfortunately, the last I heard, they ran out of money (as should many govt programs - this was partly private). The thing ran relatively smoothly, but didn't want to stop properly. No one knew how much money it would take to get that resolved. But if the govt comes along and opens it's check book, this project can be completed, probably, but at what cost? How many non-workers could we transfer that money to, or how many financial execs could we help with their BMW payments? Larry Miller ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen Russell To: ProFox Email List Sent: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 15:57:37 +0000 (UTC) Subject: Re: [OT] Idiot Californians approve Bullet Train development On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 8:40 AM, Larry Miller wrote: > If they were economically viable, why would it always take so much public > (read non-riding taxpayers) investment. If they charged what the ride really > cost, it's doubtful there would be nearly as many riders. So, why should I > pay for someone else to get transportation that does not help me. > > Please don't go into the environmental whacko stuff about this 'investment' > takes cars off the road. That is just a smoke screen. Why should we > subsidize transportation for some? ----------------------------------------------- Rails take the demand out of more freeway building. This is a very big thing. I have taken rail service for all my Europe travel over the past 23 years. I have commuted in the metro NY area as well via rail. Trains are expensive but in the end they are worth it. If you put your mileage rate next to the rail ticket price you would find that your paying a lot more for mileage within your company if rail was available. Rail takes drunks off the road going to Vegas, or maybe back as well. Considering that these are high speed trains your commute time is going to be about 1.5 X the air time for a flight, so you will get there faster. What is wrong with that? The seats for these first riders will be like flying first class in that they won't buy them in the initial purchase and fill in on routes that need them. I have taken the train from Memphis to New Orleans and it is great to not have to do the drive. If there was one to Knoxville I'd take it. -- Stephen Russell Sr. Production Systems Programmer Mimeo.com Memphis TN 901.246-0159 --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html --- _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
