Unfortunately, as already noted, math is hard. But they never let that get in the way of their romance. Particularly when it gets people out of those evil cars, with all their individual freedom and evil fossil fuels.
15 thoughts on “Passenger Rail Fantasies”
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I like trains and made regular use of the Acela line between DC and NYC when I lived in DC. But even then I knew Amtrak was heavily subsidized, just as most mass transit is — and it’s not like the fares are cheap. In fact, flying would have been cheaper most of the time. But the train let me bypass all the security hassles at the airport and, more importantly, let me get real work done in transit. I could board the train, plug my laptop into a real 110v outlet, and work for three hours. But even in the BosWash corridor, rail is not profitable; how can we imagine it would be anywhere else in the country?
If high-speed (or, frankly, low-speed) inter-city passenger rail were financially viable, companies would be lining up to provide it. Note that there are plenty of private firms that build and run toll roads in various parts of the country, because they can make a financial case for it. You just can’t do that for passenger rail.
My pet phrase for this type of hard financial reality is “the cold equations” (with a nod to Tom Godwin). The Left loves to criticize the Right as being anti-intellectual. The truth is, the Right knows basic arithmetic and the Left does not (or chooses to disbelieve it). ..bruce..
One thing the progressives have managed is to do all the little things on the way towards a desired goal. Things that in and of themselves either don’t cost much, or have an effect wildly out of proportion to their cost. Tax withholding is basically prepaying government – but it isn’t that big of a cost. But… it means the numbers of people in sticker shock on April 15 is very well mitigated.
If the Republicans can’t -cut- Amtrak, get the total unsubsidized price on the ticket. Real cost: not all that much. Marketing for next time: priceless.
Price: $200
Uncle Sam pays $150
State subsidy: $20
Your price: $30
(or whatever)
Actually, one-way Acela from DC to NYC typically runs $160-$230 and, in all fairness, is actually slightly profitable for Amtrak per ticket. The Northeast Corridor fares along the same route are a lot cheaper and a lot more subsidized.
Its the rail fares in most of the rest of the country that are heavily subsidized (cf. http://reason.com/blog/2009/10/27/riding-the-subsidized-rails-of). ..bruce..
Not disagreeing. Just from Seattle – where the nearest train’s original name is “South Lake Union Transit” and the nearest sane passenger train is still the Acela.
Try getting a passenger train to Phoenix, the 5th or 6th largest city in the US…impossible. They stopped passenger service to Phoenix in 1996. How progressive the thinking was there.
I’ve taken the train on several occasions and the cost was nominal considering the distance and convenience. Omaha to Denver, Chicago to Omaha.
I prefer to fly. If I work it just right I can get to anywhere in the continental U. S. for $99. The slight drawback is I must be in a carrier, have had my shots, and carrying my passport between my teeth.
Has nothing to do with cost/profit, whatever; but all about control and limiting freedom of movement, like Rand said.
Bruce,
I like to say I never met a person who understood logistics who was a liberal.
Rebbeca, I try not to overlook any motive. Everyone has an agenda. Whatever justification you use to explain that cost/profit has “nothing” to do with it whatsoever I think excludes a lot of agendas.
I am not the paranoid type. I already know that my whereabouts at any given moment can be determined if someone with capability is determined and curious enough.
I try never to exclude the possibility that someone may have profit as a motive. (this being a GOOD thing)
Personal freedom< I am not trying to be the mood killer, here but you lost that when you were assigned your social security number and unfortunately it does not end with your death certificate number. Just something for you to ponder.
Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison which you cannot smell or taste or touch: a prison for your mind.
The individual’s freedom to sit in urban and sub-urban traffic jams regardless of the cost should not be infringed eh?
Speaking of Blue Pills…
Why should it be, Daveon, if that’s what he wants, and if he’s the one who pays?
Daveon wrote:
The individual’s freedom to sit in urban and sub-urban traffic jams regardless of the cost should not be infringed eh?
What suburban traffic jams? I don’t know where you’re living these days, but here in St. Louis the time lost in rush hour traffic is substantially less than the time lost waiting for the train. That’s if the train goes where you need it to go, which for most people, it doesn’t. And as for cost, the government pays fifty times the trip cost for maintaining the mass transit system than it does for maintaining the highway system.
Fifty times the cost for a less efficient system. That’s socialized transportation, folks.
Mike
If an individual’s freedom put them into a traffic jam, then who am I to tell the individual what to do? Personally, I route around traffic jams, because I use my individual freedom to do so. If I was at the mercy of passenger rail (especially run by the government), I wouldn’t have such freedom.
Titus you are funny. I am still working out the system that the federal government used to keep track of cows.(they know where each cow has been in case mad cow disease strikes so they can pin point exactly where it’s been and which cow it is. Yet, they can’t find 140 million illegal aliens most of them using government programs.
As far as personal freedom, I choose to use the side streets. Much faster than the crowded interstate, by far. The one thing I have not figured out yet, but I will…is how is it possible to have a fatal accident at a four way stop. Phoenix seems to be the world leader in this area. I know velocity, trajectory, and speed factor in, but from one block to the next?