Transit Miami

4 Responses to “John McCain vs. Amtrak”

1. 1 G
   Jul 1st, 2008 at 2:26 pm

   Here come the threadjoack….

   Have you seen this interview about transit from the junior senator of Md?

   http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/6/30/111047/774

2. 2 Armando
   Jul 4th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

   First off, train transportation works in Europe because geographically Europe is much smaller and major cities are all within a reasonable distance. This makes train travel cost effective and reasonable as a matter of time. However, the US is too large of a country to be viable for a pervasive passenger train system. Major cities are too far from each other. This makes train travel times too long compared to air travel and the distance causes train tickets to be prohibitively expensive. Airfare is comparably cheaper and gets you to your destination in a fraction of the time.

   To an urban planner or regional official, issues like this are very important, regardless of their economic viability or common sense. However, Sen. McCain has to look at this from a different perspective. Economically, Amtrak is a disaster.

3. 3 serial catowner
   Jul 4th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

   It’s understandable that McCain, who can fly in his wife’s private jet to a publicly-funded airport when he wants to visit one of their seven homes, isn’t feeling any pain in the transportation department.

   However, this doesn’t make ‘100 Years’ McCain a model of fiscal probity. It’s simply not true that America is “too large” for rail transportation or that planes always get you there in “a fraction” of the time.

   There are at least five and more probably ten corridors where high-speed rail would take market share from air travel, largely because these are places where rail would be quicker than flying. Because so many flights are commuter flights, this would take a huge load ff our runways and air controller systems, which the Bush administration has consistently refused to fund or staff adequately.

   At the bottom line, there is no evidence that McCain has ever given any thought whatsoever to our transportation needs, or to AGW, which is forcing us to re-evaluate the outcomes we’re looking for in transit. If elected, he would probably convene a secret transportation policy meeting, just as Cheney in 2001 convened a still-secret energy policy meeting. I think we can all see just how well that method of doing business has worked out.

4. 4 John McCain Running Mate
   Aug 26th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

   check out this post on John McCain\’s Running Mate http://dirtyelection.com/colin-powell-as-john-mccains-running-mate/mccain/

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