Rail Unsustainability
Sam Staley at the Reason Foundation has an article on Planetizen.com that details the inefficiencies of rail transit.
His facts are accurate and consistent. What is almost as interesting is the ignorant comments that follow his column. The uninformed never cease with meaningless blather.
Mass transit’s share of travel continues to fall, even as it seems to have stemmed a decades long decline in the absolute number of miles traveled;
Increasing market share and transit riders requires dramatically reducing mobility by either increasing congestion or ratcheting up personal autombile costs artificially through devices such as registration fees or gas taxes;
While automobile use is subsidized, transit is subsidized at even higher levels, with users paying substantially less than half operating costs. Many communities offer some transit services for free, or a near free fares, to entice people onto trolleys, buses, and trains;
Even in places where TODs are considered “successful”, such as Ballston or the Chicago Loop, most trips are still by autombile unless people live (or work) in uniquely highe density places such as Manhattan.
Whole article here.
don
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