Posted on 09/22/2016 4:22:31 PM PDT by Ken H
Feds spend $1 billion on trolley in San Diego, California. Washington, DC trolley costs taxpayers $9.50 per ride.
The US Department of Transportation last week announced it would send $1 billion in cash raised from gasoline taxes to subsidize the construction of an old-fashioned trolley in San Diego, California. Around the country, the return of this Civil War-era technology has generated controversy over the costs involved. Federal officials have responded by giving priority to projects in the most exciting locations.
"The beautiful weather and strong job market have long made San Diego one of America's most desirable and fastest-growing metro areas," acting Federal Transit Administrator Carolyn Flowers explained. "But, as Southern Californians well know, that often means more cars on the road and more congestion."
Southern California is also well known for its car culture. According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, nearly 97 percent of Dan Diegans have access to at least one automobile in their household. Over 87 percent of residents commute to work in a car or on a motorcycle, compared to just 5 percent who take transit or 0.6 percent who use a bicycle. Four percent work from home.
Officials chose to advance the billion-trolley project over alternatives that included bus rapid transit and expansion of the existing freeways used by nine out of ten workers. Construction begins October 22, with the eleven-mile route scheduled to open for service in 2021.
Washington, DC's newly opened, and long troubled, $230 million trolley project raises questions about the financial sustainability of such projects. The DC streetcar does not charge riders along its 2.4 mile route for fear of discouraging ridership. That means the $8 million spent annually to support monthly ridership of about 70,000 imposes a net subsidy of $9.50 each time anyone steps on board. Members of Congress have questioned the wisdom of the expensive project.
"While streetcars are the current transportation fad, one must wonder why DC needs one in the first place," US Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said in a statement. "Some cities that lack rail transit systems have turned to streetcars, but DC's streetcar overlays its existing subways system, the Metro, which boasts approximately forty stops within the district's boundaries (the Metro goes on to service Virginia and Maryland)."
In terms of performance, The Washington Post estimated the DC trolley took 26 minutes to travel 2.2 miles along H Street, saving one minute over walking. A trip by Uber, by contrast, took just 7 minutes. An Uber ride over the same route would cost an estimated $7 to $9, and even less with a shared ride, compared to the subsidized cost of $9.50.
Direct link => http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/50/5048.asp
If San Diego wants it let San Diego pay for it.
Liberal politicians just love to play trains.
the trollies are a nice sort of touristy thingie
and I actually rather like some of them
but they’re a tremendous waste of our tax money when the highways are all choked up and falling apart
these short-distance, relatively low-capaciby slow local trollies do NOT take cars off the highways, hardly at all.....
meanwhile we’re all queqed up for hours and hours on the highwAY, we need more highways (whatever happened to our $7 trillion dineros Obama promised would be ‘invested’ in shovel=-ready highways, etc? Our money’s been stolen ... the biggest theft in recorded human history....)
we need more highways first, then if there’s any extra tax money left over it can be refunded to us (or some can be put into touristy trollies maybe, we can discuss that when the needed roads are built!) first things first, darnit!!!!
In any other business it would be unlawful to divert money like this. Now they will cry tears when they don’t have the money to fix the roads and bridges. Money that should have gone everywhere is now going to a few of the elites Liberal cities.
If the feds are going to pass out taxpayer money for trolleys, the cities will build trolleys.
Dallas has also just built a free trolley. Can’t be used by commuters, since it doesn’t start up until the ‘hood wakes up at 9:30. $79 million, less than 2.5 miles, and needs a battery since they couldn’t string overhead wires on the portion running into downtown.
The homeless need some way to get around in SD. They ride the trolley for free.
Dallas also has a separate, older trolley system that uses antique cars to connect First Baptist Church to the Uptown bar district. It’s 4.5 miles, and is run by volunteers although it is subsidized by the taxpayers.
Comparing today’s light rail vehicles to the horse-drawn trolleys of the Civil War Era (1861-1865) is the same as saying that a 2017 Ford Explorer is the same as a horse-drawn wagon.
I really loathe articles like this because they’re so pathetically ignorant that they distract from the real issue which is the waste of taxpayer funds.
What I mean is that if you make an absurd argument against something then your absurdity distracts from what you’re arguing against.
Example: “Hillary should not be President because she’s actually an alien from the planet Gotalottabutt and she eats small children every day on her way to her job at the secret Wall Street opium den!”
The absurdity distracts from the legitimate point that Hillary should not be President.
Such absurd and ignorant arguments may well be false flags that are intended to make opponents to these project ALL look loony.
In sum, make better arguments and for the Love of God and all that is Holy please...PLEASE do not use the word ‘boondoggle’ absent any actual proof that something is truly a boondoggle. The word is an adjective and not an argument unto itself!
a relatively short -distance, slow slow urban trolley... helps in congested downtownish areas, yes
but it is no substitute for the new highways we need for high volume traffic over longer distances
in this light,
these trollies should not be funded with our taxmoney until most of the necessary highway construction is completed, imho
Is a Trolley anything like a Tranny???
If they would widen the interstate by just one more lane, then there would never be any more traffic jams.
See Los Angeles as Exhibit A in that case.
With some familiarity with both the DC system and Baltimore’s light rail, I can say that mass transit can make sense. I never understood the point to the DC street car. The Baltimore light rail on the other hand does make sense. Each light rail car would need to be replaced by two buses, and because they are run in linked pairs, they replace a lot of buses.
I just wish all the rail dreamers would stop with the silly claims about what their proposed systems would do. They primarily provide remote parking for people with business in the city, if they do provide timely transport from where people are to where they want to go they will not be used.
Both the DC subway (when it is not broken due to deferred, incorrect and neglected maintenance) and Baltimore’s light rail systems can bring you down town in about the same time as driving in rush hour traffic. The subsidy of these systems allows for fares and parking fees at the stations to be less than parking downtown, easing the need for roads and parking in the highly congested central business district.
Only 9.50 per ride? Excellent. They’ll make p for any losses in volume.
Yup, Me ‘n Ma have three cars, and a pick ‘em up truck. Just the two of us. I’d probably have more, but need room for the horses.
Here is a Reason video on the history of DC's streetcars and the problem of trying to create a new system.
Ah, memories of the DC Transit streetcar ride to Glen Echo amusement park through the wooded area along the Potomac. Good times.
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