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Another Stimulus Train Boondoggle
Florida High Speed Rail ^ | 08-18-09 | Self

Posted on 08/18/2009 8:05:01 AM PDT by mission9

The stimulus statists are at it again. This time they want to revive a rail project in Florida that was defeated by public referendum. The lure of stimulus dollars has brought the high-speed railers out in force to grease the skids to the next public boondoggle. Florida already has an Amtrak train in this corridor, yet the ridership is poor. So what is the government solution? Spend 8 billion of borrowed tax dollars on a high speed train that nobody will ride. Now that will fix the economy.

Will the tickets be cheaper? NO.
Will you get to your destination quicker? Only after you get to your rental car.
If the public will not ride a cheap AMTRAK train, albeit a little slower, why do the trainKooks think that the public will ride an expensive fast train?

Even if every person who currently rides aircraft to get from city to city were to switch, the revenue will still not be enough to pay for this project.

The typical argument is to induce Europe envy: “But they have high speed trains in Germany, ....blah, blah, blah...” If the transportation planning department craves speed, how about an AUTOBAHN? They have that in Europe too.

FREEP this site with gusto. Go to the “send us your thoughts” hyperlink, and give them a piece of your mind. Florida FREEPERS can look at the events calender, and FREEP the meetings.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections; US: Florida; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: highspeedrail; porkulus; stimulus
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Florida Ping me somebody.
1 posted on 08/18/2009 8:05:02 AM PDT by mission9
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To: mission9

Government has become a criminal conspiracy.


2 posted on 08/18/2009 8:07:28 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: mission9
stimulus statists

LOL! I really like that one. Don't tase me statist BUMP!

3 posted on 08/18/2009 8:07:56 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: screaminsunshine
Government has become a criminal conspiracy.

I couldn't have said it better BUMP!

4 posted on 08/18/2009 8:08:56 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: mission9
Just reported on fox this morning Florida lost 58,000 in population last year.
5 posted on 08/18/2009 8:09:41 AM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: PGalt

I am so disgusted. I am thinking of going GALT.


6 posted on 08/18/2009 8:12:01 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: mission9

Mass transit simply DOESN’T work in a Nation the size of the USA. ALL of Europe is smaller than the USA east of the Mississippi River!

OK... so you take a high-speed train from say... Atlanta to Washington DC (why anyone would want to go to THAT cesspool is beyond me, but...) in 2.5 hours. What do you do when you get there? Walk everywhere? Good luck with that! Expensive cabs? DC’s abysmal (and expensive) “public transit” system? HA!


7 posted on 08/18/2009 8:14:39 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: screaminsunshine
I am so disgusted. I am thinking of going GALT.

I've been doing it for a couple of years in my own small way.

8 posted on 08/18/2009 8:19:54 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: mission9; Joe Brower; La Lydia; Brandonmark; Bushbacker1; pburgh01; papasmurf; tbpiper; rarestia; ..

Florida News


9 posted on 08/18/2009 8:22:10 AM PDT by mission9 (It ain't bragging if you can do it.)
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To: mission9
If the transportation planning department craves speed, how about an AUTOBAHN? They have that in Europe too.

I like that! We should make that into a bumper sticker:

You can have your light rail if you give me my autobahn.

10 posted on 08/18/2009 8:27:41 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Democrat - The Party of Bull Connor, slavery, Jim Crow laws, Obama and Suzanne Kosmas)
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To: mission9

I will run empty or lightly loaded just like our wonderful Tampa Ybor City to Channelside trolley boondoggle.


11 posted on 08/18/2009 8:35:12 AM PDT by PogySailor (We're so screwed.....welcome to the American Oligarchy)
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To: PogySailor

It will run ...


12 posted on 08/18/2009 8:35:35 AM PDT by PogySailor (We're so screwed.....welcome to the American Oligarchy)
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To: PGalt

This is getting over the edge. I am going out of the country til November. If it does not get better I am going to mail in my disgust. What have we done? These useless idiots are in for a terrible surprise.


13 posted on 08/18/2009 8:44:19 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: org.whodat

They are moving to North Carolina. Taxes here too high for property and insurance for storms.


14 posted on 08/18/2009 8:45:40 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: screaminsunshine
LOL, They will move out west after one winter. LOL
15 posted on 08/18/2009 8:48:02 AM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: mission9; Joe Brower
how about an AUTOBAHN? They have that in Europe too.

ROFL Perfect comeback.

Joe Brower is the Florida pingmeister

16 posted on 08/18/2009 8:49:36 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Caution: Angry crowds in the mirror are LARGER than they appear.)
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To: JulieRNR21; kinganamort; katherineisgreat; floriduh voter; summer; Goldwater Girl; windchime; ...
Good rant.

Florida Freeper


17 posted on 08/18/2009 8:56:46 AM PDT by Joe Brower (Sheep have three speeds: "graze", "stampede" and "cower".)
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To: screaminsunshine

“how about an AUTOBAHN? “

Yeah!


18 posted on 08/18/2009 9:22:56 AM PDT by vanilla swirl
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To: mission9

A few things here.

For the purposes of this discussion, mass transit is the movement of a large number of people in the same vehicle- a bus, train, airplane, etc. Some mass transit is rapid (airplane) while others are not (city bus).

What I call class 1 or level 1 mass transit is actually very efficient. This is the movement of people from one fixed location to another. Think of the ski lift that takes skiers from the bottom of the slope to the top. Or think of the monorail at Disney World: the parking lot to the park entrance.

Class 2 is the movement of people from a variety of locations to a fixed location. This is not nearly as efficient and takes some planning and coordination. An example would be school busses. Students all have to be prepositioned in the right place and at the right time for the system to work. In other words, the students must answer to the bus schedule.

Class 3 is the movement of people from a variety of locations to another variety of locations. This is what city bus systems attempt to accomplish. These systems only work in high density environments (such as New York’s subway).

The problem with high speed rail and airplanes is that while they may serve “a city”, they cannot serve every point in the city. We could build a Daytona-Orlando-Tampa express train, but little good will it do for the person trying to go from Deland to Clearwater.


19 posted on 08/18/2009 12:50:50 PM PDT by bobjam
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To: bobjam

Points well taken. Good Roads and the personal transportation vehicle are the hallmarks of our freedom and prosperity. Where ever good roads go, so goes, wealth.
Trains are elitist and undemocratic.

We have seen this movie before. It is no accident that the bad guys in the Westerns were the greedy train builders, who sought to end the freedom of the open range.

So it is today.


20 posted on 08/18/2009 1:13:13 PM PDT by mission9 (It ain't bragging if you can do it.)
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