badbullgator
01-29-2010, 06:58 AM
Ok, Let’s talk high speed rail. Obummer was up the road form me yesterday, along with our soon to be former governor, pushing a national high speed rail. They were particularly pushing a HSR from Tampa to Orlando. The total obummer was talking for the national rail was 8 BILLION. Now I have a few questions about the practicality of a HSR. First, here in Florida, we voted AGAINST a HSR a few years back and those against it won by a 3 to 1 margin. Obviously this is something that is not wanted by the state of Florida, however the argument they are trying to make is that it was defeated because it was state money and now it is fed money (still comes form my pocket and yours). How if the people of Florida do not want a HSR has this thing reared its ugly head again?
Next question I ponder. Just who exactly is going to ride this HSR? Really, in this case the trip from Tampa to Orlando is less than an hour by car. Keep in mind these two cities are not NYC or Chicago where there is tremendous traffic and parking is impossible, They do have traffic but it is pretty tame by big city standards. I just do not believe for one second that there are enough commuters to make this viable. Numerous studies were done before we defeated funding this nonsense that indicated there was no way this would be profitable and that any HSR would have to be subsidized to survive, thus taking more money form our pockets (or schools, roads….).
I also wonder this about a national HSR. I don’t know about you, but if I have to go to Chicago and I can get on a plane and fly round trip for about $200 and be there in 2-3 hours, why in the world would I want to get on a train? I don’t care how fast it is, it is not going to get there as fast and the cost could not be much if any less.
Ok, along that line let’s assume we build a national HSR. Now keep in mind they are talking about stimulus money to build this and it is all about job creation. Well while I can see jobs being created I also seem many, many jobs being lost. This would not mean job creation but rather job shifting at best. Where do you suspect riders would come from? Is there going to be an increased number of travelers? I think not. I think they would have to come from the pool of people that are already traveling and that would mean that the forms of transportation they currently use would lose business. The airlines, bus lines, rental cars, and auto industry would be the ones to take a hit (lets not forget about the current passenger rails). You would have to suspect that the airlines would be hit hard and that would cost jobs in that industry as well as increase cost. I see this as just one more attempt to shift wealth from one industry to another, but in this case not only will you have a wealth shift, but that wealth shift will not be enough to cover the cost of the new industry (HSR). This means not only will the existing transportation industries lose money, the money that is lost by them will go to another industry that will not only take their money but also require giant subsidies.
Someone please tell me does Amtrak make money?? NO!!!! So you mean to tell me that the reason they do not make money is because their trains don’t go fast enough?
I have no problem with the rail industry as far as freight goes, but it is antiquated as far as moving people. Why is it the current administration seems to want to push us back 100’s of year.
Next question I ponder. Just who exactly is going to ride this HSR? Really, in this case the trip from Tampa to Orlando is less than an hour by car. Keep in mind these two cities are not NYC or Chicago where there is tremendous traffic and parking is impossible, They do have traffic but it is pretty tame by big city standards. I just do not believe for one second that there are enough commuters to make this viable. Numerous studies were done before we defeated funding this nonsense that indicated there was no way this would be profitable and that any HSR would have to be subsidized to survive, thus taking more money form our pockets (or schools, roads….).
I also wonder this about a national HSR. I don’t know about you, but if I have to go to Chicago and I can get on a plane and fly round trip for about $200 and be there in 2-3 hours, why in the world would I want to get on a train? I don’t care how fast it is, it is not going to get there as fast and the cost could not be much if any less.
Ok, along that line let’s assume we build a national HSR. Now keep in mind they are talking about stimulus money to build this and it is all about job creation. Well while I can see jobs being created I also seem many, many jobs being lost. This would not mean job creation but rather job shifting at best. Where do you suspect riders would come from? Is there going to be an increased number of travelers? I think not. I think they would have to come from the pool of people that are already traveling and that would mean that the forms of transportation they currently use would lose business. The airlines, bus lines, rental cars, and auto industry would be the ones to take a hit (lets not forget about the current passenger rails). You would have to suspect that the airlines would be hit hard and that would cost jobs in that industry as well as increase cost. I see this as just one more attempt to shift wealth from one industry to another, but in this case not only will you have a wealth shift, but that wealth shift will not be enough to cover the cost of the new industry (HSR). This means not only will the existing transportation industries lose money, the money that is lost by them will go to another industry that will not only take their money but also require giant subsidies.
Someone please tell me does Amtrak make money?? NO!!!! So you mean to tell me that the reason they do not make money is because their trains don’t go fast enough?
I have no problem with the rail industry as far as freight goes, but it is antiquated as far as moving people. Why is it the current administration seems to want to push us back 100’s of year.