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FloggingSully · 05-12-2008, 05:30 PM

"Well Sully, by the traffic present on I-95 ALONE it appears that most people vote with their pocketbooks and their cars. And they are STILL choosing the automobile. Never forget we HAD rail dominance once before and it died for a reason. It was SLOOOOOOWWWWW."

-I used to commute on I-95 during the summer when I was in high school, my dad did it for years, had there been a public transit option we both would have jumped at it. A 20 mile drive took between 90 minutes and 2 hours (how slow is rail again?). My brother currently commutes into Boston everyday by train, he does so because it's faster, cheaper, and more convenient. I bet if you asked 100 of those people commuting in stop and go traffic along I-95 everyday if they'd rather take the subway to their jobs and I'd bet 90 of them would say yes.

"I wouldnt doubt that some are making that choice in the very crowded cities. But that is only a small segment of the working public. In addition to time, Americans LOVE their privacy. They want to listen to their radio stations, drive at their pace and stop when they want. But the fact remains,... If you build it, they still wont come... as Amtrack proved. Even high gas prices wont change the vast majority of American habit."

-It's only a small percentage because only a small percentage are serviced by public transit. Look at prices for appartments close to public transit compared to ones further away, you'd be surprised at how much people are willing to pay to have access to public transit.
-I agree people like their own radio stations/music, but there's this great new invention called an "Ipod" which allows people to keep listening to their own music while on the bus train. I also agree that people would like to drive at their own pace, but you obviously haven't ever been on 95 during rush hour because I'd bet my last dollar that no one wants to drive that slow.
-And high gas prices will change American's habits, public transit ridership is up (and would continue to go up if service was expanded) and gas comsumption is down. As everyone who's taken economics can tell you, as the price of a good or service goes up the demand for cheaper alternatives will also increase. We're seeing that now and I couldn't be happier.

"If they wanted it Sully, the train between OKC and Dallas wouldnt be deserted and I DO mean deserted. I dont want to waste $billions if not $trillions to findout what America has been saying for over 70 years. They LOVE their car and the FREEDOM that it brings. "

-You're probably right, but I'd argue that things would be very different if there were good subway systems in OKC and Dallas, of course no one would take a train to a city where they can't get around without a car. But if they could get around at their destination without a car things would be different.
-People have been choseing cars for 70 years because cars were cheap and because we spend trillions of dollars making car travel more convenient than other forms of travel. As oil continues to go up in price, and as we (hopefully) increase the availablity and convenience of public transit, more and more people will chose that option (which has been shown in peoples responce to recent gas price increases).

05-12-2008, 05:30 PM	#33 (permalink)
FloggingSully AA Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Maryland Posts: 732 Tournaments Joined: 0 Tournament Wins: 0	Re: Only the rich will drive everyday "Well Sully, by the traffic present on I-95 ALONE it appears that most people vote with their pocketbooks and their cars. And they are STILL choosing the automobile. Never forget we HAD rail dominance once before and it died for a reason. It was SLOOOOOOWWWWW." -I used to commute on I-95 during the summer when I was in high school, my dad did it for years, had there been a public transit option we both would have jumped at it. A 20 mile drive took between 90 minutes and 2 hours (how slow is rail again?). My brother currently commutes into Boston everyday by train, he does so because it's faster, cheaper, and more convenient. I bet if you asked 100 of those people commuting in stop and go traffic along I-95 everyday if they'd rather take the subway to their jobs and I'd bet 90 of them would say yes. "I wouldnt doubt that some are making that choice in the very crowded cities. But that is only a small segment of the working public. In addition to time, Americans LOVE their privacy. They want to listen to their radio stations, drive at their pace and stop when they want. But the fact remains,... If you build it, they still wont come... as Amtrack proved. Even high gas prices wont change the vast majority of American habit." -It's only a small percentage because only a small percentage are serviced by public transit. Look at prices for appartments close to public transit compared to ones further away, you'd be surprised at how much people are willing to pay to have access to public transit. -I agree people like their own radio stations/music, but there's this great new invention called an "Ipod" which allows people to keep listening to their own music while on the bus train. I also agree that people would like to drive at their own pace, but you obviously haven't ever been on 95 during rush hour because I'd bet my last dollar that no one wants to drive that slow. -And high gas prices will change American's habits, public transit ridership is up (and would continue to go up if service was expanded) and gas comsumption is down. As everyone who's taken economics can tell you, as the price of a good or service goes up the demand for cheaper alternatives will also increase. We're seeing that now and I couldn't be happier. "If they wanted it Sully, the train between OKC and Dallas wouldnt be deserted and I DO mean deserted. I dont want to waste $billions if not $trillions to findout what America has been saying for over 70 years. They LOVE their car and the FREEDOM that it brings. " -You're probably right, but I'd argue that things would be very different if there were good subway systems in OKC and Dallas, of course no one would take a train to a city where they can't get around without a car. But if they could get around at their destination without a car things would be different. -People have been choseing cars for 70 years because cars were cheap and because we spend trillions of dollars making car travel more convenient than other forms of travel. As oil continues to go up in price, and as we (hopefully) increase the availablity and convenience of public transit, more and more people will chose that option (which has been shown in peoples responce to recent gas price increases). __________________ There's no such thing as a pretty good aligator wrestler.