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(direct costs estimate)
500 miles x $.99 per mile = $495
(indirect costs estimate)
500 miles x $1.39 per mile = $695
{A typical car owner spends around $5000 to $17000 per year to "support" his car habit. That breaks down to roughly $14/day on the low side, and $46.50/day on the high side. }
oh please
my 1994 chevy barretta gets 30 miles to the gallon..insurance is only 100 a month, and it costs nothing to operate other than gas/oil....the car NEW was only 12k...and I can carry 4-5 people in the car...the train price was PER PERSON
my 1994 chevy barretta gets 30 miles to the gallon..insurance is only 100 a month, and it costs nothing to operate other than gas/oil....the car NEW was only 12k...and I can carry 4-5 people in the car...the train price was PER PERSON
Most of my colleagues in NYC lived where public transportation is convenient. Their transportation burden to commute was far lower than it would be with cars. Some of them didn't have to buy a car (I wouldn't either). Even when visiting, I choose not to drive in NYC. To travel around, or in the north east, it is ALWAYS trains.
The only thing that stops me from using trains in Dallas-Houston-San Antonio/Austin triangle is lack of proper service.
Amtrak ridership hit a new record last year, without any new high speed trains under some of the worst economic conditions in a lifetime. And critics claimed nobody would ride the trains.
and yet it runs a 1-2 BILLION dollar DEFICIT year over year
Subsidies to Amtrak were supposed to be temporary after it was created in 1970. That has not occurred, and Amtrak has provided second-rate rail service for more than 30 years while consuming more than $100 billion in federal subsidies. It has a poor on-time record, and its infrastructure is in bad shape.
Most of my colleagues in NYC lived where public transportation is convenient. Their transportation burden to commute was far lower than it would be with cars. Some of them didn't have to buy a car (I wouldn't either). Even when visiting, I choose not to drive in NYC. To travel around, or in the north east, it is ALWAYS trains.
and most of my family that lives in brooklyn and manhatten is the same
when I worked in manhatten it made sense too...but I now work in queens and live in the island...my jobs is 12 miles dooor to door...it is CHEAPER , QUICKER and more convient to drive...the rail would take 2-3 times as long ...a 3 mile drive (or bike) to the station...then wait for a late over full train to get to jamaca, then a transfer to flushing, then a sub way, then a bus to finally get to work 2.5 hours later.....no thanks..and the monthly LIRR ticket is over 350 dollars..not counting the subway or bus fairs
and most of my family that lives in brooklyn and manhatten is the same
when I worked in manhatten it made sense too...but I now work in queens and live in the island...my jobs is 12 miles dooor to door...it is CHEAPER , QUICKER and more convient to drive...the rail would take 2-3 times as long ...a 3 mile drive (or bike) to the station...then wait for a late over full train to get to jamaca, then a transfer to flushing, then a sub way, then a bus to finally get to work 2.5 hours later.....no thanks..and the monthly LIRR ticket is over 350 dollars..not counting the subway or bus fairs
Well, then the train is not for you, just as driving isn't an option considered by your family.
Mass transit gets large government subsidies. Tolls for bridges and tunnels also fund mass transit. Amtrak is funded by the Government. That is enough money for rails. Americans like to be free. We want to jump in our cars(suvs) and go anywhere, not just where the government rails will let us go. And who wants to ride in public transportation anymore than they have to. People may be sneezing and coughing right next to you or yelling into their cell phones. Highways give us freedom. What would happen to the auto industry with the expansion of rails. We HAD to bail them out because they were so important to the economy. No, this is just another tree hugger proposal to lessen the use of fossil fuels. They don't care how much money it loses.
FWIW- the New York Central provided scheduled 90 mph passenger trains from Buffalo, NY to Chicago in 1895 so 19th century thinking is not so out of place. We could afford a national HSR system if we stopped wasting money on pacifying the Middle East or keeping drug prices high with the War on Drugs. The money could easily build a rail system as well as pay down the debt.
But, since passenger trains are so expensive to operate, all of us taxpayers would be paying for the HSR, right? Even people who would never use it would have to pay for it.
FWIW- the New York Central provided scheduled 90 mph passenger trains from Buffalo, NY to Chicago in 1895 so 19th century thinking is not so out of place. We could afford a national HSR system if we stopped wasting money on pacifying the Middle East or keeping drug prices high with the War on Drugs. The money could easily build a rail system as well as pay down the debt.
But, since passenger trains are so expensive to operate, all of us taxpayers would be paying for the HSR, right? Even people who would never use it would have to pay for it.
My guess is the people polled for this survey would personally benefit from HSR, but what about the people like me, who never travel to the big city? I'd never use the expensive passenger train, but I'd be forced to subsidize it.
But, since passenger trains are so expensive to operate, all of us taxpayers would be paying for the HSR, right? Even people who would never use it would have to pay for it.
So are airlines and airports. And roads. But then, oil is something we have managed to get for cheap... cheaper than pennies, by sacrificing our military, instead.
I don't use the US military but most of my taxes fund our adventures in Afghanistan.
FWIW - I have a conceptual design for a HS system that would connect NYC to Chicago in 4 hours or less as well as transport freight at about the same speed.
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