Friday's The Big Day ... Or Is It?

[WilliamH]

I think the Caddo Parrish (Local Government) incentives and involvement to date goes way beyond hypothetical.
I favor government involvement and the programs to develop all forms of alternative energy and alternative transportation options by the private sector.

You think the Elio is a Hybrid vehicle?

Did I say it was a hybrid?
Follow the thread back.

 

[Edward]

No funds for trains are stolen out of highway funds paid by those that use the roads. The stolen money is then given to trains that few use and those that do use them do not pay for . Big difference Highway funds are stolen to build million dollar bike trails that few use in the hood. Look at Milwaukee.
Highway funds are taken and passed on to all kinds of projects that have nothing to do with highways. Not against passenger Rail or commuter rail just they should pay their way . Not one is self supporting not even close.

I think that Ed's (great name BTW!) point is that without train service, there would be more cars on the road, requiring more lanes, requiring more maintenance, land, plows, etc, more expensive closures for construction, etc.

 

[JEBar]

Yes you have sun , but the cost of building and maintaining it will never be recovered . It can only work if someone else is paying a bit share of the cost. Just like passenger rail and hybrid cars. Someone else has to pay for it.

back when Jimmy Carter was President he was able to get congress to OK a major tax credit for adding solar heat/water heating systems .... we added one, the credit was so high that we ended up getting back all of our federal income taxes that we paid for almost 2 years .... it worked well, we saved a bunch of money over the years but we could have never afforded to install it without that tax credit .... because it had gotten too expensive to maintain, we just finished having it removed and replaced with other systems .... in short, Smitty is correct

 

[Rickb]

Did I say it was a hybrid?
Follow the thread back.

You follow the thread back, please.

 

[outsydthebox]

back when Jimmy Carter was President he was able to get congress to OK a major tax credit for adding solar heat/water heating systems .... we added one, the credit was so high that we ended up getting back all of our federal income taxes that we paid for almost 2 years .... it worked well, we saved a bunch of money over the years but we could have never afforded to install it without that tax credit .... because it had gotten to expensive to maintain, we just finished having it removed and replaced with other systems .... in short, Smitty is correct

It's good to hear "1st hand" information. Thanks.

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

I think that Ed's (great name BTW!) point is that without train service, there would be more cars on the road, requiring more lanes, requiring more maintenance, land, plows, etc, more expensive closures for construction, etc.

No. It means our money is being stolen to subsidize empty trains that do nothing to solve traffic issues.

 

[Edward]

No. It means our money is being stolen to subsidize empty trains that do nothing to solve traffic issues.

I keep reading "empty trains" but that isn't what I'm seeing. At least not with the Denver light rail system as I've noticed it. And back in NJ, the only time you ever saw a train on the NE corridor that was remotely empty was if you were taking the last one back to Jersey.

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

I keep reading "empty trains" but that isn't what I'm seeing. At least not with the Denver light rail system as I've noticed it. And back in NJ, the only time you ever saw a train on the NE corridor that was remotely empty was if you were taking the last one back to Jersey.

I can only speak directly to the MSP light rail system, which is a multi billion dollar solution to a problem that didn't exist

 

[Ian442]

There is a light rail and subway line system in the Baltimore metro area. They both are excellent and relatively easy to use...however its a bit of a pain jumping from the light rail to the subway line inside of Baltimore city where they are relatively close together.

As for ridership, i've ridden early in the morning, afternoons, and late at night. I am never alone on those trains they do get used by all sorts of people and all walks of life. .

Best ride on the light rail: When the Ravens won Superbowl 47 and I pulled my kids from school and drove to the light rail to ride straight to the stadium for free seats to the victory celebration and parade .

250,000 of us crowding all through Baltimore to see the Ravens parade.

 

[Jim H]

Come to New Mexico to see a classic example of an empty taxpayer subsidized train. The RailRunner runs from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and the taxpayers pay nearly $90 to subsidize every rider. This was the dream of the former Governor Bill Richardson and is a tremendous waste of tax payer dollars. It will never break even.