Posted on 09/09/2004 11:02:46 AM PDT by Willie Green
During rush hour recently in Shanghai, China, I traveled 19 miles in 7½ minutes. I wasn't flying, exactly. I was aboard a high-speed magnetic-levitation transportation system.
Now I can't help but ponder more efficient ways of moving people into, between, within and around our cities -- especially when I'm stuck in traffic.
Let's face it: American transportation problems result from our love of private automobile ownership and the government policies that enable our oil addiction. Driving cars in cities is like using a pair of pliers to bang a nail into a wall -- the wrong tool for the job. It is analogous to entering the lobby of a high-rise and waiting for an elevator that only one person at a time can ride because everyone wants his or her private space.
Subways and light-rail systems, typical U.S. alternatives, are basically 19th-century technologies. As wheels meet tracks over years of use, these systems wear out. They are slow, bouncy, expensive to maintain and prone to frequent breakdowns. Mostly manually operated, they require high labor costs.
Maglevs float -- propelled and supported by electromagnetic waves. They're not free of maintenance, but logic dictates that by eliminating sources of friction from traditional propulsion and braking, much higher system reliability and fewer repairs will result.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.com ...
"That's essentially how the taxpayers of my hometown of Charlotte, a wanna-be "World Class City" if there ever was one, got duped into approving light rail."
As a former resident of Rock Hill, SC now living 50 miles NW of Atlanta, I was always amazed and puzzled why Charlotte wanted so badly to be like Atlanta in so many ways, most of which were the ways in which ATL sucks.
In Dallas, many of the large corporations are along the major freeways, and then of course there is downtown.
Light rail has already started on the eastern half of the Dallas area and is used quite frequently. The couple of times I used it, I drove a short distance to the train station, and then hopped the train for $1.
I work downtown, and would use the train everyday if it was on the west side of Dallas.
The problem is ours as a free gift from socialistic city planners and zoners of the 20s and 30s. Put the residential over here, put the stores over there, put the schools someplace else, and put the factories way the heck out of town. Beauty.
Yes, as I recall, it WAS part of FDR's New Deal that forced privately held electric utilities to divest themselves of the electric trolley systems. Part of FDR's plan to build highways, ya know.
Because everyone from the Burgh has moved down here, it sometimes seems. Until last year, when the Panthers had a good season, TVs in sports bars would be just as likely to be tuned to the Steelers game as to the Panthers.
But seriously, rail transit, particularly of the "toy" variety being implemented in Charlotte ("light" rail, grade crossings, and cute little stations which will only be able to handle trains two cars long) will only move us up the list, so we can join the other cities which have rail transit. Higher density development will be encouraged along the transit routes, but rather than ride the silly little train, people will continue to drive.
Don't forget that corrupt, stinkin' socialist FDR.
If he hadn't forced the private electric utilities to divest themselves of the efficient trolleys, GM would never have been able to buy them dirt cheap.
I hear you! If Dart ever makes it up to my area of Collin county I'd use it. It makes more sense than a 45 minute drive to go 18 miles.
Semper Fi
I like to fart, smoke, drink beer, eat, talk on the phone, scratch, groom, and read while driving a different route daily. Will this train allow me to do those things?
Well if the "cute" little system is inadequate, you better get your butt in gear and start advocating a more robust mass transit system before your roads become as clogged as LA. Adding lanes to existing roads and highways doesn't work. All that does is funnel more traffic into the gridlock.
With any luck, the transit police will ban you from riding as a public health hazard.
Dart is in Collin County. The rail system runs into Plano every few minutes.
Problem with a transfer is then you have to catch some other part of the mass transit system, who knows how long that will take. It's the big problem with mass transit, no single system is point to point unless those points are in primary target zones. So to do some big commute like you describe you've got to take a local system to get to the maglev station, then the maglev to your distant destination, then the local system there.
Why it wouldn't be is you probably don't have a maglev station at the grocery store, or at home. So you've got all these transfers and waits in between. Those waits add up and make the whole system a lot more time consuming that cars. In densely populated areas it can work and work well, in the rest of the world mass transit sucks.
In spread out cities getting downtown or to the malls is about all mass transit is good for. If I were unfortunate enough to work downtown I probably would use the bus, but I'd be looking for another job because I hate downtown, hate the crowds, and the idea of scheduling my departure time around the transit system rather than just hopping in my car when I decide it's time to leave just annoys me.
If you can get it to run for profit without public tax money... go for it. If not, why bleed the rest of us dry for your red ink feel good project?
I'm hoping it will come up to McKinney.
Semper Fi
I'm all for private operation of such systems to assure efficiency.
However, to be competitive with other modes of transportation (roads, highways, airports, etc.), the original construction costs must be similarly subsidized.
It's how transportation infrastructure has always been developed in our nation. It is a legitimate function of government, and you'd be hard pressed to name any major transportation system that hasn't required major government involvement: roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, canals, locks & dams on our inland waterways, airports and the air traffic control system, the original railroads, etc. etc. etc.
Private sector purists are merely obstructionist idiots.
Private sector would probably get things built cheaper, better, without the Union due or built in graft for inferior product. It'd also do away with politicians taking our taxes for build the roads, then putting toll boothes on them despite immense public outcry like they are doing here in Austin.
If the private sector can build huge skyscrapers and sports stadiums, mixing tar and dirt for roads should be a snap. Just because "that is the way it has always been done" does not mean that other ways cannot produce better results.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.