Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
Jazzman
Participant[quote=GH]Without adequate last mile infrastructure all of these public transport ideas are doomed to fail.
In UK where train travel used to be fantastic, it was decided to cut all of the rural money losing tracks. Officials were “surprised” to find previously money making main tracks now faced substantially reduced traffic and thus were also no longer profitable. Of course the presence of a union mandated “fire man” (looks after the coal burner) even on electric lines is laughable …[/quote]
Unions aside, I’m not sure how people are getting about if they’ve stopped using public transport. They certainly won’t be all using their cars. The M25 currently holds the title for the largest car park in the UK. The need for the London congestion charge sent the message “we have enough cars thanks”. How many lines in the UK were ever profitable? The problem is very old tracks and trains and not enough money to upgrade them. Public transport almost certainly need government subsidies to run.Participant[quote=GH]Without adequate last mile infrastructure all of these public transport ideas are doomed to fail.
In UK where train travel used to be fantastic, it was decided to cut all of the rural money losing tracks. Officials were “surprised” to find previously money making main tracks now faced substantially reduced traffic and thus were also no longer profitable. Of course the presence of a union mandated “fire man” (looks after the coal burner) even on electric lines is laughable …[/quote]
Unions aside, I’m not sure how people are getting about if they’ve stopped using public transport. They certainly won’t be all using their cars. The M25 currently holds the title for the largest car park in the UK. The need for the London congestion charge sent the message “we have enough cars thanks”. How many lines in the UK were ever profitable? The problem is very old tracks and trains and not enough money to upgrade them. Public transport almost certainly need government subsidies to run.Participant[quote=EconProf]The fatal flaw in high speed rail (and, arguably, all forms of mass transit) is ignoring the time to get from your house or apartment to the station, and then to get from the destination station to your job (or store, etc.)…plus the parking problem at the station. Americans love to go from their own driveway to the parking lot at their destination. This is a luxury we have that the Japanese, Chinese, and europeans envy.[/quote]
They may well counter at what cost? A landscape scarred by freeways, dependence on a fast disappearing natural resource, huge distances just to buy a newspaper, costs due to the necessity of multiple vehicles per household. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather use a car than be crushed in a metro, but on the other hand I’d much rather walk down a beautiful pedestrianized street than go out to eat in a car park. I would much rather be able to walk, or bike than have to get into a chunk of metal every time I need to go somewhere, that needs to produce enough energy to move something twenty times my own weight. The Chinese may not see this yet, but the Japanese and Europeans probably get it.
There’s pro’s and con’s on both sides, but is the question really about choice?
Participant[quote=EconProf]The fatal flaw in high speed rail (and, arguably, all forms of mass transit) is ignoring the time to get from your house or apartment to the station, and then to get from the destination station to your job (or store, etc.)…plus the parking problem at the station. Americans love to go from their own driveway to the parking lot at their destination. This is a luxury we have that the Japanese, Chinese, and europeans envy.[/quote]
They may well counter at what cost? A landscape scarred by freeways, dependence on a fast disappearing natural resource, huge distances just to buy a newspaper, costs due to the necessity of multiple vehicles per household. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather use a car than be crushed in a metro, but on the other hand I’d much rather walk down a beautiful pedestrianized street than go out to eat in a car park. I would much rather be able to walk, or bike than have to get into a chunk of metal every time I need to go somewhere, that needs to produce enough energy to move something twenty times my own weight. The Chinese may not see this yet, but the Japanese and Europeans probably get it.
There’s pro’s and con’s on both sides, but is the question really about choice?
Participant[quote=EconProf]The fatal flaw in high speed rail (and, arguably, all forms of mass transit) is ignoring the time to get from your house or apartment to the station, and then to get from the destination station to your job (or store, etc.)…plus the parking problem at the station. Americans love to go from their own driveway to the parking lot at their destination. This is a luxury we have that the Japanese, Chinese, and europeans envy.[/quote]
They may well counter at what cost? A landscape scarred by freeways, dependence on a fast disappearing natural resource, huge distances just to buy a newspaper, costs due to the necessity of multiple vehicles per household. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather use a car than be crushed in a metro, but on the other hand I’d much rather walk down a beautiful pedestrianized street than go out to eat in a car park. I would much rather be able to walk, or bike than have to get into a chunk of metal every time I need to go somewhere, that needs to produce enough energy to move something twenty times my own weight. The Chinese may not see this yet, but the Japanese and Europeans probably get it.
There’s pro’s and con’s on both sides, but is the question really about choice?
Participant[quote=EconProf]The fatal flaw in high speed rail (and, arguably, all forms of mass transit) is ignoring the time to get from your house or apartment to the station, and then to get from the destination station to your job (or store, etc.)…plus the parking problem at the station. Americans love to go from their own driveway to the parking lot at their destination. This is a luxury we have that the Japanese, Chinese, and europeans envy.[/quote]
They may well counter at what cost? A landscape scarred by freeways, dependence on a fast disappearing natural resource, huge distances just to buy a newspaper, costs due to the necessity of multiple vehicles per household. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather use a car than be crushed in a metro, but on the other hand I’d much rather walk down a beautiful pedestrianized street than go out to eat in a car park. I would much rather be able to walk, or bike than have to get into a chunk of metal every time I need to go somewhere, that needs to produce enough energy to move something twenty times my own weight. The Chinese may not see this yet, but the Japanese and Europeans probably get it.
There’s pro’s and con’s on both sides, but is the question really about choice?
Participant[quote=EconProf]The fatal flaw in high speed rail (and, arguably, all forms of mass transit) is ignoring the time to get from your house or apartment to the station, and then to get from the destination station to your job (or store, etc.)…plus the parking problem at the station. Americans love to go from their own driveway to the parking lot at their destination. This is a luxury we have that the Japanese, Chinese, and europeans envy.[/quote]
They may well counter at what cost? A landscape scarred by freeways, dependence on a fast disappearing natural resource, huge distances just to buy a newspaper, costs due to the necessity of multiple vehicles per household. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather use a car than be crushed in a metro, but on the other hand I’d much rather walk down a beautiful pedestrianized street than go out to eat in a car park. I would much rather be able to walk, or bike than have to get into a chunk of metal every time I need to go somewhere, that needs to produce enough energy to move something twenty times my own weight. The Chinese may not see this yet, but the Japanese and Europeans probably get it.
There’s pro’s and con’s on both sides, but is the question really about choice?
ParticipantTrains impact values where they reduce quality of living, ie noise, rail tracks crossings etc. They increase values where they provide better public transportation. I live half a mile away from a rail track, and the main disturbance is the incessant tooting starting quite early in the morning, presumably due to people walking on the tracks. There needs to be much tighter control over public access to rail tracks.
ParticipantTrains impact values where they reduce quality of living, ie noise, rail tracks crossings etc. They increase values where they provide better public transportation. I live half a mile away from a rail track, and the main disturbance is the incessant tooting starting quite early in the morning, presumably due to people walking on the tracks. There needs to be much tighter control over public access to rail tracks.
ParticipantTrains impact values where they reduce quality of living, ie noise, rail tracks crossings etc. They increase values where they provide better public transportation. I live half a mile away from a rail track, and the main disturbance is the incessant tooting starting quite early in the morning, presumably due to people walking on the tracks. There needs to be much tighter control over public access to rail tracks.
ParticipantTrains impact values where they reduce quality of living, ie noise, rail tracks crossings etc. They increase values where they provide better public transportation. I live half a mile away from a rail track, and the main disturbance is the incessant tooting starting quite early in the morning, presumably due to people walking on the tracks. There needs to be much tighter control over public access to rail tracks.
ParticipantTrains impact values where they reduce quality of living, ie noise, rail tracks crossings etc. They increase values where they provide better public transportation. I live half a mile away from a rail track, and the main disturbance is the incessant tooting starting quite early in the morning, presumably due to people walking on the tracks. There needs to be much tighter control over public access to rail tracks.
ParticipantThat wonderful Orwellian alternative reality of infomercials. Nice music though.
ParticipantThat wonderful Orwellian alternative reality of infomercials. Nice music though.
-
AuthorPosts
