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Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

latimes.com

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Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#61

Post by mchannon »

acchow wrote: post #48
randyrand wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would still make SFO less crowded.

What part of SFO crowds makes SF LA slow? I've always sped through security in 15 minutes at any time of day. Surely there must be security clearance time data available somewhere.

When SF fogs in (which is far more often than you'd expect), they close a runway.

As a result, you experience crowding in SF even before your SF-bound plane leaves the gate or takes off due to air traffic control ground holds. Epic delays then cascade through the rest of the air traffic system, delaying wherever that plane was supposed to go next.

This could all be alleviated if they moved one their runways further apart. I get that NIMBY's won't let them fill in more of the bay to achieve this (c'mon guys, what's another 40 feet or so?). What I don't get is how it doesn't seem to occur to anyone to move the terminal and gate structures back "west" to make this space. After substantial renovations on Terminals 1 and 2 for what is still mostly a ranch-style airport, you'd figure they could do something to free up some space.

And don't get me started on SF's slowmobile, taking you to the rental car center in 10 minutes or more.

Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#62

Post by justicezyx »

peterhadlaw wrote: post #22
acchow wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based off our inability to build infrastructure? Boeing still builds a ton of airplanes in America. Tesla is founded and manufactured in America. In 20 years we've created the empires of iPhone, Google and Facebook. Wasn't CRISPR discovered in America as well?

I don't understand this behavior with some people being so defeatist about America. It's by no means perfect, but there is much innovation, growth, and development shown by her people.

I think US infrastructure and health care are areas: 1. Real needs exist for renovation. 2. Real examples outside US that works better and cost less.

It's just that the people somehow manage to still fail to achieve the desired results with reasonable investment. What went wrong? I cannot say for sure.

Democracy does not mean that "you have to screw in some areas". If there is a way to do it better, just do it that way. There is no inherent limitations of democracy which make it unable to learn, right?

Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#63

Post by Gibbon1 »

kilroy123 wrote: post #32

I really don't get this project. The math just doesn't add up. It's going to cost ~$67 billion dollars and there are ~39 million people in California.

Pretty easy actually.

$67 billion /39 million people / 30 years => $57/year-person.

or

1.5 million trips per day X 365days/year X 30 years => 15.4 billion trips.

$67 billion / 15.4 billion trips => $4 trip

Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#64

Post by alexbeloi »

justicezyx wrote: post #42
rayiner wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more referring to the dysfunction of our government and institutions. But in a democracy, dysfunctional government is a manifestation of dysfunction in the people.

> In a democracy, dysfunctional government is a manifestation of lack of virtue in the people. I am happy such mentality shows up here. Particularly, I am deeply concerned with American educational philosophy. It seems American schools emphasize skills dealing with people more than those for understanding the non-human objects in the world. These skills, although are always claimed to advance the greater good, they a…

>The history has proven that a society that share the common goals can advance forward. While those comprised with self-proclaimed leaders never really manage to unite any large nations.

This sounds nice, but I'm having a hard time thinking of any large modern states that appear to be driven by a shared common goal.

If such states only existed in the past, then my feeling is that is a result of romanticizing the past having not lived it. Maybe in 50 years people will look back on these last two decades as a time when large parts of the western world 'came together' with the common goal of 'fighting terrorism'.

Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#65

Post by philipov »

mistursinistur wrote: post #55
randyrand wrote: post #8

I feel like more international airports in SF and LA would be much more useful. More locations to touch-down in, less crowded airports. Getting from LA to SF is already quite easy travel wise - a 1 hr flight. It's getting to and from the airport and how crowded they are that's most annoying. More airports would help solve both of those.

HSR and "more airports" are not substitutes. Airports don't address the need for capacity on trips shorter than the SF-LA route (e.g. Fresno-SJ or Bakersfield-LA). Rail lines do address this kind of infill transportation. More airports by themselves don't make it easier to get "to and from the airport" -- for this, you need more highway capacity. Most calls to build more airports tend to ignore this fact and its asso…

> (Rail stations, on the other hand, are distributed along a line and don't induce the kind of traffic congestion at a single point that you'd see with an airport node.)

Ever been to Grand Central Station in NYC at rush hour?

Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#67

Post by rabboRubble »

randyrand wrote: post #8

I feel like more international airports in SF and LA would be much more useful. More locations to touch-down in, less crowded airports. Getting from LA to SF is already quite easy travel wise - a 1 hr flight. It's getting to and from the airport and how crowded they are that's most annoying. More airports would help solve both of those.

Airports might be more useful if the security theater were eliminated. The shorter the flight the greater proportion of time I spend not traveling anywhere (i.e. standing in the TSA line). If I can avoid the TSA, god help me I will.

Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#69

Post by rollingpebbles »

randyrand wrote: post #8

I feel like more international airports in SF and LA would be much more useful. More locations to touch-down in, less crowded airports. Getting from LA to SF is already quite easy travel wise - a 1 hr flight. It's getting to and from the airport and how crowded they are that's most annoying. More airports would help solve both of those.

For major airports, LA has Burbank and LAX. In fact, avoid LAX where possible. The other issue is LA is so spread out that that's its fundamental problem; it needs much faster, more pervasive and efficient public transport that ties into national and international travel.

Re: Help wanted: CEO for CA high speed rail project. High pay, sleepless nights

#70

Post by rollingpebbles »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #51
randyrand wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would still make SFO less crowded.

Do you know how long it'd take to drive from Watsonville to Market Street?

1 hr 45 minutes without traffic

3 hrs peak times on the weekend

3-4 hrs rush-hour commute

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