Crabby Fat Guy

6 Responses to “Ohio Rail Service Poll”

1. jackscrow says:
   January 30th, 2010 at 9:34 pm

   (Cross-post)

   I love trains, BUT…

   For those of you comparing the proposed (I guess it’s a done deal?) government supplied train travel here in Ohio to the government subsidy of roadways:

   We pay for a large portion of highway funds through the gasoline tax. An overwhelmingly large portion of the population uses and needs the roads — some small percentage of them to drive to and park for a train ride that takes twice as long as the same trip in a car.

   Are there any passenger trains between large cities that currently run through Ohio? I’d be interested to know how many Ohioans currently use trains, compared to the population to which train travel is available, AND how many of them trip between cities.

   This is the game we see time after time: Unveil some extraordinary government program, tell you it’s good for you and expect you to live with it, knuckle under and pay for programs that YOU don’t use. Then the stories come out that the program doesn’t quite work, and that it would never survive without increased taxes (In this instance, ridership will be half of what is predicted, it’s more expensive than what they said and the state is stuck with this mess and has to raise taxes to pay for it.). If it is operated and run by the government, no matter whether it is a failure, the workforce never gets laid off, its workers receive benefits largely unavailable to the taxpayers footing the bill, and get to retire after 30 years with 90% of their incomes – and inflationary increases.

   And another thing while I’m on a roll: $400m is almost twice as much money as we are budgeting for Haiti next year… Haiti, a problem that will take BILLIONS of $ to make a dent.

   “Senators working on the next annual foreign assistance budget have proposed at least $282 million for Haiti; the House proposal would provide at least $165 million.”

   We need real solutions for jobs, not make-work government programs that benefit a very small percentage of the population, and that have no measurable value return to the people who pay for them.

   “I love trains”, but they really need to put some more thought in this. Shouldn’t they start with light rail IN the cities before they try to connect them?

2. Aunt Eek says:
   January 31st, 2010 at 2:49 am

   The trains brag that they can move a ton of freight 400+ miles on a gallon of fuel. I wonder if that’s with accelleration, decelleration and stops.

   Regardless, if this were practical, someone would be doing it. Instead, the trains have eliminated much passenger service.

   So anything the government does will cost more than it’s worth, as usual.

3. crabby says:
   January 31st, 2010 at 9:43 am

   I am very “bullish” on freight train service. That would cut down on traffic on the highway and cut down on 5 mpg semis.

   I wonder if they’ve considered 3C bus service. Probably not as sexy.

4. Aunt Eek says:
   January 31st, 2010 at 1:56 pm

   Yes, but at what price to the taxpayers?

   When in Gary a few years ago, we could have taken a train to Chicago. $9 each way, per passenger, so $36. We just missed the train, so an hour until the next one.

   Or for car maintenance, gas and $9 to park, we could be next door to our destination by the time the train would have picked us up. On our schedule, and a car available at a moment’s notice.

   Unless there is a compelling reason for sacrifice and inconvenience, these ideas need to be sold on saving people money, and I don’t see that, unless they’re subsidizing fares, which is only screwing someone else for the cost.

5. fem_wolf says:
   February 1st, 2010 at 12:03 am

   I took my son from Pittsburgh to NYC couple of years ago on Amtrak. It was a really cool experience for both of us. I didn’t have to worry about doing all the driving, and he had the time of his life. If he and his friends were to want to head north or south to a concert or amusement park, as a parent, i would feel much safer sending them on a train than letting them drive all that way. Of course, I might be a bit over-protective though, lol.

6. crabby says:
   February 2nd, 2010 at 10:33 am

   People taking a once a year trip to Cleveland is NOT going to make this a viable operation. You need to get business people that take the trip often, very often.

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