79% of Travelers Would Prefer High-Speed Rail Travel Over Air Travel (middle east, drugs)
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I live in Idaho, and here in the intermountain west, airline connections are always complicated, due to the low population. While there are direct flights from a few of the largest cities here to major cities elsewhere, for most Idahoans, flying almost anywhere means a person will have to fly somewhere else and connect there for a flight that goes to the destination. Some of the flight transfers get ridiculously complicated. Often, the direct flights take off in the middle of the night, early in the morning, or other times that require careful scheduling.
And for the folks who live in the small towns, which is most of Idaho's citizens, flying requires a road trip that can be 30 minutes to 4 hours just to get to the closest airport. If the weather is bad, or the road is under maintenance, or anything unusual, it's very easy to miss a flight. That flight may be the only one of the day that will get you to where you want to go.
The only alternative for us is the private automobile, and out here, the distances are vast. A trip from Coeur d'Alene in the northern part of the state to Idaho Falls, in the south, is about 650 miles. Much of the most direct route is 2-lane, and there is only one direct route. All others require traveling as much as 200 miles west or east to get on an Interstate. Winters here are cold, snowy, and the roads are mostly slick to icy somewhere along a drive that long. I've done it several times in the winter- one drive, partly through a bad snowstorm, took 21 hours, and our average speed was around 35 mph.
This is not unusual in this part of the country. The same applies to most of Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, and parts of western Washington and Oregon. All of these states have long distance stretches where there are few to no towns, and if a person gets stuck or in trouble, it's going to be a long wait for assistance.
We really need rail out here, and it doesn't have to be high speed 200 mph rail. If a modern railway could average 80-90 mph, that would be much faster than driving on most of the roads. I honestly believe that a family trip in a modern rail car would be much more pleasant and easier than driving.
There are some particular needs a modern railroad would have to accommodate- having a rail car that could transport automobiles, like a ferry does, is a necessity, I think; very few of the cities out here have city public transportation. A lot of smaller towns have no car rentals. The need for private wheels here is persistent.
A passenger rail system that covered the intermountain west would never be built by private money alone- the population of the states out here is simply too low to make private enterprise alone profitable for passenger trains, even though this is the second fastest growing region in the country. But I have seen many public/private joint ventures out here work very well, and I'm certain a rail system would be heavily used as soon as portions of it were completed.
Oil is not ever going to get cheaper. I drive to Portland every few years, and the vehicle I drive gets around 28 mpg. The last trip cost me at around $80-100 one way, depending on the prices and takes a minimum of 12 hours to drive. (and that's breaking the 65mph Oregon speed limit)
If I start a few hours too late, or get hung up, the drive turns into a 2-day trip requiring an overnight in a motel. That puts the cost of a one way up to $150 at least.
If I was offered the choice of a rail trip, even at $400 round trip, I would take it, even if it meant an overnight ride. The relaxation factor alone is worth the difference to me, as I'm always burned out for a day or more after I make the drive. Air travel is so miserable out here that I would walk to Portland than put up with another flight again.
Well, air is so 20th century. Both centuries are now receding in the past.
It's obvious that fast transit speed alone doesn't make much difference now in air travel- the older rail systems of the past were just as fast door to door as airplanes are now at less than 1/4 of the transport speed.
We've gone over this issue in great detail in around a dozen threads in recent years and the truth is, no, gas taxes and user fees (such as car registrations) do not fund road maintained much less new road construction. They pay for 40%-60% of the maintenance costs depending on the state and the rest ends up coming out of either state general funds or Federal subsidies.
The gas tax and registration fees would have to more then double in most cases if users were simply to pay for road maintenance without subsidies.
Sounds like a money pit.
Tell me again why we need a "high-speed" money pit.
THINGS JUST WENT from bad to worse for high-speed passenger rail in California. After the Golden State’s voters approved a $9 billion bullet-train bond issue in 2008, officials said they could build an 800-mile system by 2020, for $35.7 billion. The cost projection now, as issued by the state Nov. 1: $98.5 billion, with a completion date of 2033.
Tell me again why we need a "high-speed" money pit.
We don't. For those who are so concerned about spending, just spend a little less on the auto-centered "money pit" and use that to improve rail travel. It doesn't have to be high speed at first. Any rail travel, in many places, would be a big step forward.
It would be simpler to limit any travel to the business people that can afford it. Mass tourism is a luxury we can no longer afford. Keeping the masses at home tranquilized with TV is way cheaper than roads, railroads or airline travel.
Guess what, airline travel does not cost me a whole lot if I'm not actually buying tickets, HSR will most likely cost all American taxpayers millions of dollars, even if they never use it.
Guess what, airline travel does not cost me a whole lot if I'm not actually buying tickets, HSR will most likely cost all American taxpayers millions of dollars, even if they never use it.
Guess what, [HSR] travel [would] not cost me a whole lot if I'm not actually buying tickets, [airline travel costs] all American taxpayers millions of dollars, even if they never use it.
--edit--
Sorry for being a smart alec
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