fka ftc said:
aggie93 said:
torrid said:
C@LAg said:
WTF you talking about?
there are few fans of high speed rail on this forum, let alone this entire site.
I wish I could be a fan, if it were economically viable and convenient. I would probably travel a lot more than I do now. But we all know it would squander billions, ridership levels would never meet predictions, and the end it would be just as unpleasant as flying is today.
I'm picturing traveling MARTA from coast to coast. Or better yet, there are tons of YouTube videos of Brits trying to ride Greyhound across the country. And it's not as bad as you think, it's even worse.
It's a classic liberal idea. It sounds cool so they just love the idea of it. They look at Europe and Japan and don't understand why it won't work here. You tell them why it won't work and they ignore you. Then they plot a new way to spend more money on it.
FWIW as bad as Watson is in Austin he is SOOOO much better than the communist alternative that was up against him. He's just an old school corrupt Democrat that looks at taxpayers as a piggy bank. The new breed want to burn everything down.
So is Brightline in Florida a classic liberal idea that somehow seems to work? I have not taken it yet, but would consider it?
Highspeed rail would be a fantastically useful alternative in the US. I took the Acela for the first time about a year ago and took the train in England this past year from London to Portsmouth. No reason it cannot work here just takes someone telling the environmentalist to **** off.
It won't work here except in a very limited capacity for certain cities and that is if everything is done properly.
It works better if you have areas where people don't tend to own cars and live close to a city center and people tend to go to the same places. The US is simply too spread out and hub and spoke. We also have excellent highways and airports already that are more efficient and practical.
Part of the appeal of trains is getting people away from cars and independence, that's a big reason why liberals love them. They love the idea of the collective and then being in control of the collective.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan