[extropy-chat] peak oil schmeak oil

[spike]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-
> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] peak oil schmeak oil
> 
> --- spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:
> > I saw that it carried no passengers.  The driver of
> > this multimillion dollar bus was tooling along in the
> > carpool lane all by his cheerful self.
> >
> > Your tax dollars at play.
> 
> Buses do that all the time, special engines or no.  Did you notice
> whether it had an "OUT OF SERVICE" for its displayed route?

No I didn't notice.  The hydrogen station is in San Jose, and 
it was traveling from Milpitas to Sunnyvale, so I don't see why 
it would be out of service unless going to or coming from the
station.  Perhaps there is another reason for being out of
service, I dont know.

> Not that what you're implying is necessarily incorrect, of course.
> Just that it isn't the only plausible explanation, given the
> evidence.

Ja.  Actually I see empty in-service city buses often.  For buses
to be very practical, one needs a densely populated city.  In the
smeared out extended suburb which we call the Silicon Valley, bus
transportation is not all that practical.  If one can afford to
live here, one can afford one's own car, eh?*  

I looked up on the site, where they gave budgets.  The initial cost of the
three buses was around 10.6 million, making them over three million
bucks each.  The total cost of the program was 18.4 million, which
includes the fuelling infrastructure, so if we made a campy
TV series about it, we could call it the Six Million Dollar Bus.

Clearly this technology is not ready for prime time, but it
strengthens my contention that these sorts of ideas cannot
be practically implemented until we pump all the cheap easy
oil out of the ground.

spike


*One can purchase a decent running used auto for the price of 
one month's typical rent on an apartment here.  The San Jose 
Merc ran an article this morning on housing costs in the
Santa Clara County.  It said that the median home price
hovered at about 6 years gross average salary for a number
of years.  This past year, the median price of a Santa Clara
home is now over 10 times the average annual gross salary in
this county.

So why do we need buses?

s