[ExI] mass transit again

spike spike66 at att.net
Thu Jan 20 17:44:04 UTC 2011


... On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
...

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 02:02:39AM -0800, Samantha Atkins wrote:

>> The main problem with most mass transit is that it is less fuel efficient
by far than even private cars with only one person in them... 

>Apart from higher street density (transport capacity) issues this strikes
me as extremely inplausible. Do you have references for this?...-- Eugen*
Leitl 

Samantha is one of the locals; she and I regularly witness a phenomenon
which constantly reinforces this notion: buses and trains with exactly two
people on board, with one of these at the controls.  We regularly see the
electric trains that the voters just had to have (to save the planet)
backing up traffic for 300 meters, with exactly two persons on board, one at
the controls.  Perhaps the voters failed to vote into effect a law
*requiring* the silly proles to actually use these expensive public transit
systems.  

We have a most wonderful fleet of fuel cell buses, belching pristine sparkly
white clouds of steam as they motor about the bay, nearly devoid of actual
passengers, saving the planet with each puff of non-carbon dioxide
containing emissions.  Commonly known as zero emissions vehicles, we
engineering types prefer to call them emissions-elsewhere traffic blockers.
They are so very efficient at emitting emissions in Nevada somewhere, while
devouring all those carbon-containing tax dollars.

A study was done for the San Jose fuel cell buses using total investment vs
total results.  The local news reported it as 51 dollars per mile.  I don't
think that was cost per passenger mile, so it is entirely possible that the
figure would need to be divided by two or even three to derive dollars per
passenger mile, which would put it at a much more palatable 12 dollars per
passenger mile, which is cheaper than a fleet of three taxis to haul those
three proles.

In any case, the EEV bus project will forever be a poster child for our tax
dollars at play, a symbol of why California is in such desperate trouble
financially, and how we got here.  The state was functionally deriving its
own private version of carbon cap and trade, basically acting as its own
country, attempting to save the planet while neglecting to save itself.

Watch and wait, keep an eye on the headlines.

spike



   







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