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You simply do not have a clue. I have never read anything so embarrassing by an adult. Economics 101 would be a good place for you to start. Unless, that is, the communists take over this country. Rails are dead. A technology of the crowded masses of high rise housing and huge factory and massive office work places. No public transportation is ever going to serve the America of the future with fast food stops and soccer practice and pilates and the gym. You can wish for a return to 1930, but it is gone forever. No one is going back to those days.
Very true. America is built for FREIGHT rail...not passenger rail. Amtrak is, and has been, subsidized by Uncle Sam. Take that money away, and Amtrak will sink faster than the Titanic. Same with all the commuter rail systems. And subways. The freight companies would survive, and could *possibly* begin passenger service again, but it would be expensive. Almost prohibitively expensive.
Very true. America is built for FREIGHT rail...not passenger rail. Amtrak is, and has been, subsidized by Uncle Sam. Take that money away, and Amtrak will sink faster than the Titanic. Same with all the commuter rail systems. And subways. The freight companies would survive, and could *possibly* begin passenger service again, but it would be expensive. Almost prohibitively expensive.
Small efficient cars will rule the future. Each one sitting quietly and cost free waiting patiently for the next transportation task. Not an 800,000 pound locomotive with a dozen union slackers on board rumbling up and down the rails all day waiting for some rush hour passengers. Its just silly to even think so.
Yes, but the Caddys and Rincolns are made of tin foil and plastic.
A 1990 Cadillac weighs about 500 lb less than the 1990 560SEL MB and is about a foot shorter and 2000 pounds less than the K2500 Burb (which is also made of tin foil and plastic, just more of it).
I don't see what a 1990 Cadillac has to do with the size of a 1990 Mercedes. A 1990 Cadillac Brougham weighed 4,300-4,500 lbs; I don't think a '90 Mercedes 560SE weighs 500 lbs more than that.
"Tin and plastic?" I think that description would more fit cars like a 1990 Geo, Suzuki or Hyundai (if those was being built then). Or a Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, etc.
To see some truly humongous cars, just look below:
Going back to the subject of this thread (fuel prices), the two cars shown are driven only about once every 2 weeks, and usually locally. And sometimes I park the '69 Cadillac on the side of the driveway (under a car cover) for a few months. In fact, that's where it is right now. So (fortunately) the higher gas prices don't affect me too much.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,690 posts, read 57,994,855 times
Reputation: 46166
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilson513
Small efficient cars will rule the future. Each one sitting quietly and cost free waiting patiently for the next transportation task.....
Mine have served me well for 35+ yrs ... and always ready for that next task (over 1000 miles in last 3 days running 'errands'), but not EMPTY yet 1250 mile range / tank. //www.city-data.com/forum/membe...-caddy-rf.html
50mpg since 1976, No Dinosaurs (or OPEC) required
Not my Suburban in Background... Alaska friend, it still got 20+mpg empty, and 12-15 towing a pretty big 3axle Airstream (old and heavy).
My Cummins 1T 4x4 gets 20 mpg and I have hauled up to 30,000# with it. For heavier loads there is the Kenworth (6 mpg) or MACK (8-10mpg).
You simply do not have a clue. I have never read anything so embarrassing by an adult. Economics 101 would be a good place for you to start. Unless, that is, the communists take over this country. Rails are dead. A technology of the crowded masses of high rise housing and huge factory and massive office work places. No public transportation is ever going to serve the America of the future with fast food stops and soccer practice and pilates and the gym. You can wish for a return to 1930, but it is gone forever. No one is going back to those days.
Listen, Buddy, I was educated and trained in economic geography and transportation logistics. You are the one that can't see what is coming in the future. You and tens of millions of other brainwashed, automobile-addicted people in this country. That is why the transition to a workable transportation system is going to be brutal, ugly, and destructive to the very fiber of this nation. I love cars and driving as much as anyone does, but one has to be a complete economic idiot to not understand that our current highway-centered transportation system can not survive what lies ahead in any more than a shadow of its former self.
This part of what you said is absolutely true:
Quote:
No public transportation is ever going to serve the America of the future with fast food stops and soccer practice and pilates and the gym.
That is why suburbia as we know it is going to die an inglorious death, with tens of millions of people whose entire life's capital invested in it squandered. People don't yet recognize it for what it is, but the mortgage meltdown and popping of the real estate bubble in this country is actually the beginning salvos in that process.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,690 posts, read 57,994,855 times
Reputation: 46166
Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover
....That is why suburbia as we know it is going to die an inglorious death, ....
I would agree there will be some significant adjustment ahead. UNFORTUNATELY, USA is not ready to lead this, as our lack of foresight is incredibly lacking. I recognized this in 1980's when living in Singapore and realizing how NICE public transit could be with the correct planning (and incentive... tax for driving during rush hour, or in central business district + $100k for the 'privilege' of getting a car registration)
Too bad the USA tore up all the right-of-ways from earlier transit systems, when
we are FORCED back to transit, it is gonna be VERY expensive.
I lothe Light Rail... (mixing street level transit with traffic / pedestrians), lots of disruption and dangerous and SLOW, the opposite of a 'practical solution'
Sadly it appears that your eating the words you wrote.
I wish it wasn't so but it appears that 5.00 a gallon in some parts of the country has already been exceeded.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Everest209
Anyone else hate themselves for falling for these "5 dollar a gallon gas this year" threads every year?
It's not uncommon to see gas prices in LA vary by as much as $.40-$.50 per gallon at two stations 10 minutes apart due to the 'zone pricing' method which the oilc ompanies use.
The #1 reason why gasoline in California is always higher than it is in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Dallas, OKC or anywhere across the desert southwest can be laid solely at the feet of the environmentalists who put a halt to refinery construction in California thirty years ago, and our current governor, as fervent of an environmentalist as has ever existed, with apoligies to Al Gore.
I saw a program on tv (pbs) with rick steves. In europe (esp italy) the people drive tiny cars & scooters. My car would look like a bus to them. Gas is holding steady here at $4.30 gal. My car gets 12 mpg so its going to cost me a arm & a leg to drive to san bernardino & loma linda next week (50 miles round trip). I used to get at least 15 mpg but not anymore. I drive a true gas guzzler.
Listen, Buddy, I was educated and trained in economic geography and transportation logistics.
Too much book learning, too many feasability studies, too many statistical reports and too much actuarial data. Its time for you to come out into the real world and look around you. You need to read socialogical books and walk around real people (so says my PhD).
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1250 mile range / tank.
