Subject:
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Re: Public transportation (was Re: Age limitations)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 5 Jul 2000 20:39:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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270 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James J. Trobaugh writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Matthew Miller writes:
> > Larry Pieniazek <lpieniazek@mercator.com> wrote:
> > > you can ride trams, funiculars, rack railways, canal boats, ships, trains,
> > > busses (diesel and electric) and subways within your zone for 24 hours for
> > > about 5 bucks. But then the pop density is a lot bigger and I'm convinced • that
> > > there is some cost shifting going on somewhere, they HAVE to be losing money.
> >
> > More flamebait *grin*:
> >
> > Of course, in the US, we pour a lot of money into our car-oriented system
> > (Look at the Big Dig in Boston, for example) effectively using public
> > subsidies to undercut public transportation. No wonder most Americans prefer
> > to drive -- the actual cost of it is hidden from them.
> >
> > With the recent high gasoline prices, we suddenly hear a lot of people
> > demanding that the government should cut gas taxes (never mind that those
> > taxes help pay for the roads) or even release fuel from our reserves. What a
> > short-sighted and ultimately futile "solution". Instead, we should make a
> > major investment in light rail.
>
> The "great" MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) is a excelent
> example of what Larry was talking about. This system was built by local
> goverment (city of Atlanta mainly) to be used by the Metro Atlanta area. That
> area is currently defined as 15 counties (maybe 9 when the system started) but
> the trains only include two counties. I believe the main purpose of the system
> is for the mayors of Atlanta (currently Bill Cambel) to give jobs and money to
> thier supporters. It has a very limited route outside of the downtown area, so
> unless you live and work in the city limits of Atlanta you're not going to get
> much use of the train system. There are no trains in the major suburbs of the
> area, and that is were all the traffic is. The first station I come near is
> next to my office, but that is the last station on the line. Really it's more
> of a system to bring people who live downtown out to the jobs on the skirts of
> town, instead of bringing the people who live in the burbs into the city.
>
> They aren't removing any cars off of the highway since a major portion of the
> riding population are riding not to save on gas or traffic, but are riding
> since they don't have a car to start with.
>
> Its a shame that a major internation city such as Atlanta can't see beyond
> it's own selfishness and work harder at making the system work for everyone.
>
> jt
Here in Houston the local politicians are concocting a really bone-head plan to
start a light-rail system. They want to put it along our main street corridor
from downtown, through our museum district and medical center to the Astrodome/
new stadium site. That sounds really good, but considering that it is a very
lightly-traveled commuter artery, it doesn't make much sense considering the
cost. All it will really do is take the place of some buses, which is good in
terms of reducing particulate emmisions, but negligible in terms of reducing
smog emmissions from auto commuters because the blasted thing will not serve the
heavy population centers. Light rail would no doubt be a good thing in this
city were it done right (i.e, establishing starter-lines toward the suburbs
along our impossibly-gridlocked freeways on the west of the city), but, instead
of implementing a rail plan that would give people an efficient and fast means
of traveling along our busiest arteries to and from the central city, our
bloated Metropolitan Transit Authority has instead decided to use our tax money
to build a nice shiny toy (though they won't admit it) to ooh and ahhh the IOC
in the hopes of bringing the Olympics here someday. I for one would be
overjoyed to pay for a well-oiled transit system (our Metro is great for
traveling in a straight-line, but woe to the weary traveler who would change
directions in mid-journey), but these mis-managed pork barrels of cronyism
rarely succeed in either alleviating congestion or reducing smog, etc. Our
shiny new toy will simply carry the same Metro riders who would have been on a
bus instead. We the taxpayers of Harris county will have spent untold millions
simply so our "civic leaders" can boast that that Houston is a "world-class
city." Rail Envy. Nothing more. Darn it, I want to take the government out of
the government's hands. If a private company were to start our rail system, it
would never sink millions of millions of dollars into a plan that would take
decades and decades to pay for itself. What madness!
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