BlueStreak |
02-15-2011 11:32 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by piece-itpete
(Post 54627)
Chas FTW!
Car killed rail because they are MUCH more convenient.
Here in Ohio, our newly minted fearless leader gave the feds their highspeed rail money back. We didn't want to get stuck with operating costs.
Pete
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Yes, they are more convenient. And don't get me wrong, I love my vehicles, but, they are a far less efficient mode of transportation for long distance, mass transportation. Airliners are even worse.
And, besides you're not entirely correct. Cars beating rail was not purely a function of the free market. The auto industry (And their lobbyists.) did intentionally damage it. In the sixties, the Democratic Party fought any efforts to deregulate or subsidize privately owned passenger rail and Republicans fought any attempts to nationalize privately owned passenger rail. And with Detroit flush with cash (At the time.) from muscle car era profits, one can only imagine where the lobbying money came from for that..........:rolleyes:
As I see it, we as a nation will eventually be forced to do something about our voracious appetite for petroleum, like it or not. Some would say we're already past that point. Continuing to fill the streets with millions more cars and the sky with ever more and larger jets just because they are "more convenient" will have to become a memory. And don't forget the cost of building and maintaining millions of miles of new and ever wider highways.
We can get the jump on it, or we can continue down the current path. Which is horrendously inefficient, to say the least.
Dave
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