Conservatives and Mass Transit: all aboard !

[GG-1]

"Waiting On A Train" has been one of the best rail reads I have ever encountered. I'm almost done with it and want to give that book as a Christmas present to every member of the House and Senate! :lol:

Aloha

unfortunately some of them won't bother to read it unless you put a dollar between a random number os pages :huh:

 

[Larry H.]

The sad part with much of the country is we see things mostly from one view point or the other. Being bi partisan always means lean to my side so we can agree. It will probably always be that way.

My family loves rail travel, I took many trips with my grandparents by train, they always voted republican. Of late I have chosen to do more of what many now do, that is vote for what I personally think is a good idea. I voted for two democratic presidents on the hope that they meant what they said on improving rail service, but generally I have been sorry.

Both sides have enormously influential parties that tend to wish to draw them one way or the other. It seems that most of those that don't agree are the ones that end up in the middle somewhere.

My view is that things like roads, defense, and railroads that are a common good should be at least partly supported by our government. Where the party in power at the moment is coming off the rails is that the majority of people do not see the government as the party that should tell us what to eat, where to eat it, what to buy, what to hear, which doctors services we should obtain and on an on. The current health care bill while of course some of its major changes are worth while, its the rest of the 4,000 pages of rules and controls of our decisions that make most people nervous. If insurance companies are the problem as now being touted, then pass a bill to restrict their actions so that they benefit the rest of us, but don't try to sneak a lot of money transfers and controls over everyone in with it. Some how I think that is still falling on death ears.

And sadly I already hear republicans saying they would block the rail funds if they win, so were still stuck in the two extremes it seems.

 

[WICT106]

Folks, as the opposition to this investment continues to build, It is important that we counteract the mis-informed statements that many opponents use against (admittedly) incrementally higher speed passenger rail. I think the book mentioned in the original post, "Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation," contains arguments and themes that we can use to write letters to the editor of our local papers, and local community forums, and as we go about and socialize. I recommend we use this book. I think we should go ahead with this investment in rail, and we will have to debate and get involved and get active. This threat to de-fund is quite real and quite substantial, I fear. We will have to deploy strategies to get people to separate the rail funding from the other aspects of the Obama Administration's agenda. Get people to think about how rail transport benefits them, even if indirectly.

The sad part with much of the country is we see things mostly from one view point or the other. Being bi partisan always means lean to my side so we can agree. It will probably always be that way.
My family loves rail travel, I took many trips with my grandparents by train, they always voted republican. Of late I have chosen to do more of what many now do, that is vote for what I personally think is a good idea. I voted for two democratic presidents on the hope that they meant what they said on improving rail service, but generally I have been sorry.

Both sides have enormously influential parties that tend to wish to draw them one way or the other. It seems that most of those that don't agree are the ones that end up in the middle somewhere.

My view is that things like roads, defense, and railroads that are a common good should be at least partly supported by our government. Where the party in power at the moment is coming off the rails is that the majority of people do not see the government as the party that should tell us what to eat, where to eat it, what to buy, what to hear, which doctors services we should obtain and on an on. The current health care bill while of course some of its major changes are worth while, its the rest of the 4,000 pages of rules and controls of our decisions that make most people nervous. If insurance companies are the problem as now being touted, then pass a bill to restrict their actions so that they benefit the rest of us, but don't try to sneak a lot of money transfers and controls over everyone in with it. Some how I think that is still falling on death ears.

And sadly I already hear republicans saying they would block the rail funds if they win, so were still stuck in the two extremes it seems.

 

[frj1983]

I wonder how many people who work on Wall Street and the Chicago Exchange ride mass transit to work daily. I don't see riders of mass transit as being conservative or liberal but as pragmatic. The politics come in when it comes to approving tax dollars to fund mass transit.
Conservatives should be fully supportive of mass transit efforts as it creates an affordable means of transportation for everyone to get to work, shop and create trickle down economics.

Some have mentioned Seattle's free zone where riders can ride for nothing. I've mentioned one of Vermon'ts free public transportation systems. This conservative sat his butt down in Vermont, arguably one of the more Liberal states, and enjoyed every minute of the "free ride" wondering why more localities don't have this wonderful service. Tax dollars spent on mass transportation are tax dollars well spent.

I've never actually counted, but I note that quite a few Chicago Exchange workers ride both Metra and the CTA on a daily basis. They wear their coats and badges and can be seen readily!

 

[George Harris]

Don't recall the exact numbers, but the "big dig" cost over a billion dollars for just over or about one mile of multiple lane road. That road can never cover itself from the gas tax if all lanes ran bumper to bumper 24 hours a day. That should be enough of an example.

My my! Today we are students of gross understatements aren't we?

By the time all the dust settled the Big Dig came in at a whopping $22 Billion!

Thanks, I could not remember and had no urge to do what it took to find out at the time I was writing. At this point the entire California High Speed rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles is estimated to cost $40 billion, equipment included. Even if that is off by a factor of two and the real number is $80 billion, you would have a functional high speed railroad over 400 miles long for only four times the cost of a couple miles of urban highway. Which sounds like the best use of money?