Ever wonder why the Tea Party hates building green?

[eeyore1954]

An 8 hour drive? If you are an optimist.

Aside from the city travel while you are in greater LA or SF it is a very fast drive. I am not so sure the rail will alleviate those inner city traffic times and problems.

 

[Trakar]

An 8 hour drive? If you are an optimist.

LOL, or lucky! Fastest time was Sacramento to LA in just a hair under 7 hours but it was at night and we were flying low.

 

[WildCat]

Aside from the city travel while you are in greater LA or SF it is a very fast drive. I am not so sure the rail will alleviate those inner city traffic times and problems.

I only drove LA-SF once, we took the PCH to SF because we had lots of time and it's a great drive. Back to LA we took I-5, and there was no traffic at all outside the SF and LA metro areas. I remember truck after truck after truck of garlic on the road near Gilroy on the way up!

But you hit on the major issue - traffic congestion isn't in inter-city travel, it's in the intra-city travel. And HSR doesn't address that at all. In fact, it uses dollars that could be going to maintaining and expanding existing light rail and bus routes. Here in Chicago numerous sections of the CTA rail service are slow zones because of track maintenance issues (parts of it are 100 years old), and service frequency is being cut. Bus routes are also being cut or even eliminated. And these are the things that actually address traffic congestion!

But hey, Ilinois got $2 billion to make our existing Amtrak route few people use slightly faster in some sections!

 

[eeyore1954]

I also wonder how well do those ridership prediction numbers take into account the changing face of business travel. The real green way to travel is conferencing not HSR. I realize some business must be face to face but in my company aside from conferences there is very little business travel anymore. All training is done through webinars, we save money our clients save money and it is "green".

 

[Trakar]

I only drove LA-SF once, we took the PCH to SF because we had lots of time and it's a great drive. Back to LA we took I-5, and there was no traffic at all outside the SF and LA metro areas. I remember truck after truck after truck of garlic on the road near Gilroy on the way up!

But you hit on the major issue - traffic congestion isn't in inter-city travel, it's in the intra-city travel. And HSR doesn't address that at all. In fact, it uses dollars that could be going to maintaining and expanding existing light rail and bus routes. Here in Chicago numerous sections of the CTA rail service are slow zones because of track maintenance issues (parts of it are 100 years old), and service frequency is being cut. Bus routes are also being cut or even eliminated. And these are the things that actually address traffic congestion!

But hey, Ilinois got $2 billion to make our existing Amtrak route few people use slightly faster in some sections!

Well, neither SF nor LA a pleasant drive throughs, not to mention the associated parking "pleasures." But the main issue about LA to SF travel is the 400 miles between them. anyway you look at it, aside from air travel (or HSR) it's gonna take the major part of a day to make that commute.

 

[eeyore1954]

LOL, or lucky! Fastest time was Sacramento to LA in just a hair under 7 hours but it was at night and we were flying low.

Last time I drove that way (AActually Modesto to LA) we went 75 to 80 MPH the whole way (were passed all the time) until about 15 miles after Magic Mountain. From there to LAX took 2 1/2 hours. Once you are in the greater LA area (like NYC where I live) all bets are off on travel time.

 

[BenBurch]

Aside from the city travel while you are in greater LA or SF it is a very fast drive. I am not so sure the rail will alleviate those inner city traffic times and problems.

I got stuck on the freeway from Sunnyvale to SF once for almost 2 hours.

 

[Ziggurat]

I got stuck on the freeway from Sunnyvale to SF once for almost 2 hours.

From The Onion:
Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others

 

[WildCat]

I got stuck on the freeway from Sunnyvale to SF once for almost 2 hours.

That's nothing, at the first Bannaroo fest we got stuck in traffic for 8 hours on the way in and 17 hours(!!!!) on the way out. But we had a rented 30' RV so it wasn't too bad, I feel sorry for people stuck in cars for all that time.

It would have been longer gong in, but we were warned ahead of time and found an alternate route that let us cut the line.

 

[eeyore1954]

From The Onion:
Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others

From that article. A joke but also very true.

"Expanding mass transit isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity," Holland said. "My drive to work is unbelievable. I spend more than two hours stuck in 12 lanes of traffic. It's about time somebody did something to get some of these other cars off the road."

It has nothing to do with this thread but this headline made me laugh.

GOP Introduces New "Mystery Candidate" With Paper Bag Over Head
Republicans will reveal the identity of the Mystery Candidate only after he, or she, wins the election.

 

[Nosi]

Well, yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Now if they were running that rail line down to the great bbq joint in Compton in South LA.....

No, seriously.

When a state or country is broke, a lot of things start happening that seem irrational or not optimal.

Reminds me of the half constructed freeway that stops dead, 20 feet in the air in the middle of Capetown.

The programs to build new prisons is full throttle though.

 

[Nosi]

It's only silly to suggest it when a black godless muslim kenyan socialist fascist communist radical Jimmy Carterish democrat is president. When a good white Christian conservative American is president, massive spending is great!

Modern Conservatives "Let the war(s) begin!" **cheers**

I am so sick of 'em I could spit.

 

[Nosi]

I strongly disagree. I see transportation networks in the future being dominated by the electric car, not HSR.

Some of the newer electrics have self driving capabilities (I don't know if this is off the board yet) so twelve such cars end to end is a sort of train. Or 20, or 220.

 

[Nosi]

Actually, I was thinking more in terms of resources. The moon has deposits of titanium, in the form of ilmenite. The question would be whether it would be practical with the technology available to mine such resources. Usually, private industry won't do the required R & D for such projects.

You aren't suggesting there's a kernal of truth in that pile of moon excrement Newt was passing around? That would call for a BIG fat fryer to get his ethically wobbly butt into the White House.

 

[mhaze]

Some of the newer electrics have self driving capabilities (I don't know if this is off the board yet) so twelve such cars end to end is a sort of train. Or 20, or 220.

But that wouldn't be green because it doesn't have the phrase "rail" in it. Maybe you could paint the cars green.

Yeah. That'd work.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

It's only silly to suggest it when a black godless muslim kenyan socialist fascist communist radical Jimmy Carterish democrat is president. When a good white Christian conservative American is president, massive spending is great!

Speaking as a "good white Christian conservative Canadian" (4 out of 5 ain't bad?), no it isn't.

And large numbers of my US counterparts feel the same way. Hence the ongoing search for a viable "Not-Romney" nominee.

 

[mhaze]

The programs to build new prisons is full throttle though.

Look. This is not complicated. Prisons is good, big business. Rail needs help. Needs high levels of "Ridership".

Make the trains the prisons.

Everyone's happy and you and I get to continue driving our trucks and suvs.

 

[Virus]

The ridership rates are rather irreverent to me.

Would it be worth building for one person?

 

[Trakar]

I also wonder how well do those ridership prediction numbers take into account the changing face of business travel. The real green way to travel is conferencing not HSR. I realize some business must be face to face but in my company aside from conferences there is very little business travel anymore. All training is done through webinars, we save money our clients save money and it is "green".

Fully agreed, but a great deal depends upon what type of business you are a part of. Not all training is ameniable to webinar, nor is telecommuting always an option,...but things are definitely much better in those regards today than they were even a decade ago.

 

[Mike!]

Would it be worth building for one person?

You're asking Travis this question? If that's the case, I'm pretty sure the answer will be, "Yes". He's had this train set circled in the Christmas catalog for years.