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| Re: Train was going 80MPH in 30MPH zone (1459443) | |||
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Re: Train was going 80MPH in 30MPH zone |
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Posted by Steamdriven on Fri Dec 22 17:48:33 2017, in response to Re: Train was going 80MPH in 30MPH zone, posted by ElectricTraction on Fri Dec 22 11:56:48 2017. How about you pay the actual cost of running the train when you buy the ticket. The Feds - that's all of your friends, neighbors and everyone else with a job - perhaps can be asked to kick in the capital to buy the right of way and pay for the now enormous cost putting a functioning RR on it, once. The recurring cost of paying to drive you around (incl via a train) should should be paid by each person being so transported.When people drive, they pay for - The rolling stock - The insurance on the rolling stock - The fuel for the rolling stock - Storage space (parking at home) for said wheeled thing - Every repair and maintenance item - The operator and crew, usually one person does both jobs - Station attendants (same person as the operator and crew) - On roads designated as Federal or State highways, they pay for the roadside workers, roadbed maintenance and repaving via gas taxes. Those gas taxes also pay for a bit of mass transit, whether or not they use it. What they don't pay for is the original construction of highways, road signs and ... well, that's about all there is on an Interstate. No signal system, no electric substations, no catenery, no switches. All of those are integrated into the diversified modular transport units known as motor vehicles. Now, I like the idea of having someone chauffeur me in a 100,000 pound vehicle, and having 'them' deal with parking, maintenance, fuel and threading around traffic. I'd rather have a reclining seat in a smoothly operating conveyance which magically stores itself when I get out than drive myself. But I don't believe I have the right to force you to pay for all of it. If I want extra service (driver, valet parking, bundled maintenance) then I expect to pay for it myself. Things that last 100 years, such as right-of-way, or even 20 years, such as roads and tracks, can reasonable be paid for by Uncle Deficit, if those facilities will actually be used enough to justify their existence. Thing is, even when you pay for the extra service (train, train driver, staff, valet, etc) you may not get anything worth the $$. Half the railcars in the USA (the few I've been on at least) make a constant shivering motion rather than rolling smoothly, the seats don't recline and I run the risk of being stuck between 2 other grungy strangers (commuter rail) or near someone screaming kid (anywhere). Find a car with a smooth highway ride, drive with one other person who you get along with and it becomes less headache than the train. Passenger rail could be a fine experience, if it was 1935 again. It ain't and with few exceptions it won't be. So asking the whole country to pay for our predilection for a quaint mode of transport isn't only unfair, it's often for a product not worth buying. |
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