[News Bot]

State Senate voted Friday to approve the first $8 billion allocation for the project

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[PhantomPholly]

Oh, joy. Job security for future Aamtrak subsides.

[danh818]

And 10 Billion of our hard earned dollars going to waste.

[njloof]

As long as they don't frisk me before I can get on the train...

[PhantomPholly]

Originally Posted by njloof

As long as they don't frisk me before I can get on the train...

You haven't heard? The TSA is now monitoring both train stations and even bus stops. The madness never ends.

[njloof]

Originally Posted by PhantomPholly

You haven't heard? The TSA is now monitoring both train stations and even bus stops. The madness never ends.

If they frisked the folks I rode with on the Greyhound back in the day, the bus would have been mostly empty

[Ziggythewiz]

I wonder what they mean by "High Speed"...in UT they spent half the DOT budget on a 55 mph High Speed Rail that ran alongside the 80 MPH hwy, cost more than gas to ride, and was used by ~.01% of the commuting population.

[Caps18]

If it goes from San Fran to LA, and then later to Las Vegas and San Diego from LA... It could work if it takes you to the airport in each of these cities (to the strip in Vegas, stupid taxi lobby preventing a monorail from the airport to the strip...). All flights would be switched to train rides, and people could come and just take the train as well.

The issue is the price and convenience. It is a 4-6 hour drive and it only costs *"$40" because you aren't counting the price of your car. You can take a few people for that rate too. Adding an extra passenger to your car doesn't cost another "$40". And you leave when you leave. You don't have a clock to check and you can't be late. And you can go whereever once you get there. Vegas has taxis, but they will cost you quite a bit instead of parking for free and driving someplace else. In LA you will have to wait for a taxi and everything is spread out a long distance.

Train pricing has to factor in a bunch of stuff if they want to remain profitable and be better than airlines or driving your regular car. Now, if they allowed cars to get transported quickly, cheaply, and easily on the train. It isn't just the speed. I would rather go slow and pay $20 for my car and myself to go to Las Vegas or SF from LA, and if I had some friends, they would have to pay $12. And that is the hard part to solve. They will raise the rates to match supply and demand instead of being a great deal even if automobile gas prices shoot up.

*$40 is a made up number, but it is the price it costs in fuel to get there and back.

[McRat]

There is not enough demand to justify the costs.

Do they think it takes no energy to build a rail system? Net carbon footprint will make it a poor decision.

But understand, SF and LA run California. Anything they want, they get, and will make the rest of the state pay for it.

[njloof]

I promise to wave at y'all through the window

Hey, I'd drive an EV from LA to SF if I had the range...