Uhh, yeah...

Post #223,362 by bionerd 9/7/05 9:12:00 AM Reply	Uhh, yeah... I've done my part to keep Amtrak alive. I enjoy travelling by train. Even though it takes longer, it's comfortable. You can stretch out and meander around. I took a train to Chicago last winter. Except for the drunk guy sitting behind me who was very insistent at striking up a conversation, I had a wonderful time. And when going to Toronto or Niagara Falls, we always take the train, too. It adds a whole level of fun to the trip.
Post #223,387 by jb4 9/7/05 10:10:14 AM Reply	Don't misunderstand... I'm probably the biggest "woo-woo" here. It's just ironic that such an idyllic, and efficient, if not blinding fast, mode of transportation would be happily sacrificed by the let-em-eat-cake "administration" for 1/365th of the yearly cost of a misguided adventure in Terra Del Sand. But Amtrak has no oil, so... jb4 shrub●bish (Am., from shrub* + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf.* BULLSHIT
Post #223,500 by Ashton 9/7/05 5:16:38 PM Reply	Seems to have started with: GM rippin-up muni tracks==Bus.
Post #223,502 by Another Scott 9/7/05 5:25:21 PM Reply	Cecil's view. [link\|http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_335.html\|The Straight Dope]: Lots of details on Bradford Snell's charges. Cecil sums up with: Now, you may or may not believe GM's professions of innocence concerning the holding company. But most authorities agree that trolleys bit the dust in LA and elsewhere not because of a conspiracy but because they were slow and inconvenient compared to autos, and in the long run just couldn't compete. Los Angeles is typical in this respect. It has neither the high population density nor the concentrated downtown necessary to support rail transit. The PE, which was owned by the Southern Pacific railroad, made a profit in only 8 of the 42 years it was in business under its own name. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that many PE lines in LA proper operated on city streets, and as more cars crowded those streets, service got progressively slower. (The average speed on the run to Santa Monica was only 13 MPH.) FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #223,513 by Ashton 9/7/05 6:10:20 PM Reply	Well, in One Line.. ya can't add many But..s Way I sees it is: in the contest between upgrading these clapped-out vehicles (as we see can be done to a fare-thee-well ... now) GM behaved like any other unregulated Murican Corp. smelling a windfall even beyond! the Next Quarter ie real prescience in a CIEIO. Influencing bored, unskilled city councils was EZ, prolly with TLAs du jour: all a soundin like the hype for the 1939 Worlds Fair in Flushing Meadows. No Contest - a city council pondering, say Who uses / And why? the muni - and does ONE-car/person transport make Any Sense ?? Long Run !?! for daily work flows... [and perhaps they did just that: pondered 'users'. Decided: riff-raff?] Not even a website :-0 is, IMO - apt to tell This story convincingly. A ~~journey of a 1000 miles~~ stabbing begins with ~~a single step~~ an innocuous initial incision. The puppy dog won't miss his tail if you take it off an inch at a time. Or ...
Post #223,566 by static 9/7/05 8:57:18 PM Reply	Melbourne did it right. In the '60s, they invested in their tram system, whilst most everyone else were abandoning them. In the city centre and on busy roads, trams have their own rights-of-way. And the GM link is unproven, but very possible. There was a documentary a few years ago about it. If the story is true, they did a lot to make it very hard to prove. Wade. d-_-b

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