ST Alpha - "I don't know the answer: how much more would have to be spent on road maintenance if Amtrak didn't exist, because of increased car traffic? -- nm" (Reading a Post)

SlickerTalk
Search Archives
The Leaderboard
The FAQ

Login
Create Account

Search Dr. S. Talk
TT/ST Wiki
How Well Do You Know ...

RSS Feed

Hosting by DigitalOcean

Support ST on Ko-Fi

Down to Post

Backboards:

Posts: 156

I don't know the answer: how much more would have to be spent on road maintenance if Amtrak didn't exist, because of increased car traffic? -- nm

Posted by Reagen May 13 '15, 14:19

(No message)

Responses:

[deleted] 18
- I like trains a lot and wish I could use them more myself, but cost vs. use has to be considered. - b. May 13, 14:29 17
  - [deleted]
  - I think dumping the unprofitable routes and keeping the profitable ones is exactly what people like ML and me are suggesting. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:36 5
    - ok. that was not clear to me from the bb comments. -- nm - b. May 13, 14:39 4
      - It's the subsidies we're railing against, and those subsidies are there because the long haul lines lose tens of millions a year each. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:43 3
        
        So, less than a hundredth of a percentage point of the federal budget - znufrii May 13, 14:58 1
        
        [deleted]
        
        (And those long routes are generally there just to appease Congressmen so they'll get their subsidy.) -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:43
  - If we had been investing in them the way other sane governments do, they would be a more viable competitor to the airlines in short route travel - professor smartbrain May 13, 14:32 9
    - Pop Quiz: How many transit systems in the entire world make a profit? - Strongbad May 13, 14:43 8
      - What was the answer? -- nm - David May 13, 15:27 1
        
        As of 10-15 years ago, the only one was Hong Kong. -- nm - Strongbad May 13, 15:57
      - [deleted] 4
        
        I could have been a clearer in my comment about profitability. I don't think all routes need to be profitable, but I remember reading about - b. May 13, 15:04 2
        
        [deleted]
        
        + bit -- nm - b. May 13, 15:05
        
        I agree. -- nm - Strongbad May 13, 14:52
      - Interesting -- nm - zork May 13, 14:45
[deleted]
They average 86,000 passengers per day, nationwide. The Brooklyn Bridge carries 120,000 cars per day. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:22 19
- That doesn't really answer the question, nor is it directly comparable. - Reagen May 13, 14:28 6
  - Travel facilitates economic activity for sure, way beyond paying the fare and maintaining the lines -- nm - con_carne May 13, 14:37
  - Didn't mean to say it was directly comparable, just pointing out that 86,000 passengers nationwide isn't a lot. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:33
  - [deleted]
  - especially if the tracks are used by other carriers -- nm - zork May 13, 14:31 2
    - I should have added something about that above - use of trains for commercial transport purposes is still important. - b. May 13, 14:33 1
      - There's no way the tracks would go away. Nobody suggests the tracks should go away. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:36
- that's some serious under-usage -- nm - zork May 13, 14:25 9
  - no, it just means the rest of the non-NE Corridor routes bring down the average -- nm - professor smartbrain May 13, 14:27 8
    - The Northeast Regional and Acela lines alone account for 31259 per day. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:29 7
      - Over 365 days but people only commute 5 days a week -- nm - professor smartbrain May 13, 14:42 2
        
        So...44k a day? - Will Hunting May 13, 14:44 1
        
        and a few holidays but close enough I'm sure. -- nm - zork May 13, 14:46
      - Hmmm, GO Transit around here does 215,000 per day (train plus 56k by bus -> 68M per year). Via, the national railroad does 4.1M per year mostly in the - zork May 13, 14:37 1
        
        so 16k-ish per day (seemingly based on 250 travel days). Also, the governments subsidise some northern railways as an essential service. -- nm - zork May 13, 14:43
      - The bottom 10 lines in ridership account for 2924 passengers per day, combined. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:31 1
        
        Expanding it to the bottom 20 gets us to 10214 per day. -- nm - Ender May 13, 14:35
- [deleted]
- [deleted]
billions. our roads were built between the 1920'sand 60's and most are falling apart. expecially bridges -- nm - Peglegpete May 13, 14:22 1
- yeah, our bridges and road infrastructure is falling apart too -- nm - Beaker May 13, 14:25
Well here's the beauty part ... - The Tax Foundation May 13, 14:21

Post a message top

Replies are disabled on threads older than 7 days.