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Define "eventually" please. Public transportation projects have been in place for what, 100 years or so? Have they paid for themselves (as in don't have to be continually funded by the taxpayer) yet? Do we give them another 20 years? 50? 500?
Lets figure out how to make the existing ones not run at a loss. Not make money, but not loose it either. Then we should be able to discuss expansion of these programs, and not before.
To paraphrase-Insanity, doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome. Lets not go there.
Define "eventually" please. Public transportation projects have been in place for what, 100 years or so? Have they paid for themselves (as in don't have to be continually funded by the taxpayer) yet? Do we give them another 20 years? 50? 500?
Lets figure out how to make the existing ones not run at a loss. Not make money, but not loose it either. Then we should be able to discuss expansion of these programs, and not before.
To paraphrase-Insanity, doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome. Lets not go there.
Indeed. Has Amtrak ever been self sufficient and able to run without federal subsidy?
You're attempting to divert attention from the fact that motor vehicle users pay a great deal of tax on fuel.
You’re assuming that they are the only ones paying. Gasoline tax came about, and continues to be a tax on gasoline. Only a quarter century later, a trust fund based on this tax was added to support highway construction and maintenance. It was never meant to be 100% for roads only. Where do you get THAT idea from? Besides, do you really believe that gasoline taxes (and all of it) could be used to do the job you believe it was meant to? Explain to me, the reason behind toll roads then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal
Partially, for indeed without revenue one cannot spend; unless of course, all monitary power is turned over to the FED to print money and indebt the American people without representation. Then inflation becomes the means through which revenue is raised and wealth redistributed.
A post worthy of being, and discussed, in a different thread, not here.
Quote:
This is exactly why the US Constitution limits the power of the federal government to spend and why taxation and spending under the so-called "general welfare clause" is the biggest myth of all.
I don’t see such limits in the constitution. Remember, those who wrote the constitution couldn’t find a way to reduce debt either.
Define "eventually" please. Public transportation projects have been in place for what, 100 years or so? Have they paid for themselves (as in don't have to be continually funded by the taxpayer) yet? Do we give them another 20 years? 50? 500?
Lets figure out how to make the existing ones not run at a loss. Not make money, but not loose it either. Then we should be able to discuss expansion of these programs, and not before.
To paraphrase-Insanity, doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome. Lets not go there.
Look, I am not a transportation planner, nor do I expect every transport project o be funded immediately OR paid off by tax payers within 10 years.
About your questions, have public transport projects paid for themselves yet? I don't know. I have honestly not looked it up.
But have you looked up how the public transport system of Amsterdam or Stockholm or Berlin or any other European hub is faring? Are all of them in dismal failure? Have any of them seen success? Even in just getting local citizens to use their cars less?
I think this is a missing piece for many debators against public transport- they are so hel* bent on figuring out how public transport did not work out that they completely miss out how it did. I am not a statistician. Please do not demand that info of me. If you are interested, figure it out yourself smarty. In the meantime, what is your point and angle? Even if you are pumping for car use, there is a lot of interesting angles to get involved with the public transport model that will not leave you so alienated
Surprise! Some right wingers actually ride public transport from their suburban homes! It is actually faster. There is a related thread and one of the posts implies it is a problem because the poor ride it. Some conservatives allow that public transport should be provided as a public charity, using the most dilapidated buses to ensure nobody else will use it. And forget rail. It has the annoying effect of attracting middle class riders.
Judging by the number of posts on here from the right wing disparaging public transportation, I must wonder (applying the same logic that the right wing frequently applies to Sarah Palin and the religious right): Why is the right wing afraid of public transportation?
To answer your question pointedly -
Live in Boston, where I have used public transportation, although I avoid it like the plague. Reasons -
1. The T cars stink, hate the smell
2. I hate being packed like I am in a cattle car
3. My wife is claustrophobic and the T travels underground, the one time she did ride it caught fire underground and that was not pretty
4. Unpredictable breakdowns, more than a car during bad weather
5. I prefer to blare my radio as I drive, and don't like using an IPOD or head sets
6. I can afford to pay to park daily
Wish they would use more of my tax dollars to repair rods and less to subsidize mass transport that I don't use..nor care to use.
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