One of the major disconnects between the high-speed rail freaks and others, including Goldberg here, is that the former always compare prices assuming one person per automobile. If you compare one DC to NYC round-trip rail ticket, at its cheapest, which I believe is about $100, then it does compare somewhat with the cost of driving alone, particularly if you factor in the work required to drive, the value of the driver’s time, et cetera.
But when you compare a family (or any other group) driving, it become stupid, as Goldberg found out. I mean, when I take the family skiing in January, we drive to Utah in the Odyssey. That’s seven people between LA and Utah, leaving when we want, eating what and where we want, stop and stretch our legs when we feel like it, average speed 80 MPH, total round-trip costs even at $4/gallon of $150 or $19 per person. There’s no imaginable public transportation system that could do the job for anywhere near $19 a person.
Maybe we should call family minivans high speed trackless rail systems, and argue how amazingly green and efficient they are.
But I do think a major disconnect between the high speed groupies and the rest of us is that they don’t have kids, and probably don’t think we should be having them either.
They also never need to carry stuff. I routinely carry hundreds of pounds of stuff in my car.
Then if we look at the other prime competitor, air travel, we see an interesting thing. The current principle advocates are also the ones in control of airport security. How about putting those high speed rail dollars towards streamlining airport security, building more airports, and, of course, putting some absurd, direct subsidy on air travel instead of rail? Wouldn’t that work better for the US we actually have?
What? You mean the real world doesn’t revolve around yuppies that can stuff all their worldly possessions into the back of a SmartCar?
Carl,
what’s the time frame if you take the train now? I’m always interested in that difference. It’s normally longer on the train, ergo eating up my time, your time.
The several times where I argued that factor, I had several people say (this must have been a talking point somewhere) word for word, “..if you take out wait time in between trains, it’s always quicker”.
That’s true. Likewise, if I just count the drive time, delete the on ramps, off ramps, take out fuel stops and food stops and pee breaks for the kids, I average 84 MPH on all my trips to Grandmother’s house too!
If you delete enough of the facts, almost any argument can be made airtight. But I was taught by my 8th Grade Debate Teacher, that you can’t delete FACTS to make your argument stronger.
One of the major disconnects between the high-speed rail freaks and others, including Goldberg here, is that the former always compare prices assuming one person per automobile. If you compare one DC to NYC round-trip rail ticket, at its cheapest, which I believe is about $100, then it does compare somewhat with the cost of driving alone, particularly if you factor in the work required to drive, the value of the driver’s time, et cetera.
But when you compare a family (or any other group) driving, it become stupid, as Goldberg found out. I mean, when I take the family skiing in January, we drive to Utah in the Odyssey. That’s seven people between LA and Utah, leaving when we want, eating what and where we want, stop and stretch our legs when we feel like it, average speed 80 MPH, total round-trip costs even at $4/gallon of $150 or $19 per person. There’s no imaginable public transportation system that could do the job for anywhere near $19 a person.
Maybe we should call family minivans high speed trackless rail systems, and argue how amazingly green and efficient they are.
But I do think a major disconnect between the high speed groupies and the rest of us is that they don’t have kids, and probably don’t think we should be having them either.
They also never need to carry stuff. I routinely carry hundreds of pounds of stuff in my car.
Then if we look at the other prime competitor, air travel, we see an interesting thing. The current principle advocates are also the ones in control of airport security. How about putting those high speed rail dollars towards streamlining airport security, building more airports, and, of course, putting some absurd, direct subsidy on air travel instead of rail? Wouldn’t that work better for the US we actually have?
What? You mean the real world doesn’t revolve around yuppies that can stuff all their worldly possessions into the back of a SmartCar?
Carl,
what’s the time frame if you take the train now? I’m always interested in that difference. It’s normally longer on the train, ergo eating up my time, your time.
The several times where I argued that factor, I had several people say (this must have been a talking point somewhere) word for word, “..if you take out wait time in between trains, it’s always quicker”.
That’s true. Likewise, if I just count the drive time, delete the on ramps, off ramps, take out fuel stops and food stops and pee breaks for the kids, I average 84 MPH on all my trips to Grandmother’s house too!
If you delete enough of the facts, almost any argument can be made airtight. But I was taught by my 8th Grade Debate Teacher, that you can’t delete FACTS to make your argument stronger.
Oddly, that simple tactic stuck with me.