121–130 of 201 posts
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Or any improvements on the 405 for us poor souls who live in the Valley+ and work in Santa Monica :(
A Sepulveda Pass-LAX subway is supposedly coming eventually!
Is there a page about this 405 highway train plan somewhere?
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the U.S. has become incapable of building large projects in a reasonable amount of time and budget? Private projects come in on time and on budget, or nearly so, all the time. It's the public sector projects that are layered in graft. The last major public project that came in near the original budget that I can recall is the San Jose Area (now SAP).
Which private enterprise has the power to run a hundred billion project that isn’t funded by the government. Not one.
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Cars may become self driving, but that won't change the fundamental efficiency problem in that you can only fit so many people in a private car. What you're describing can already be done by calling a Lyft, albeit at slightly higher costs than a self driving car.
A network of self-driving cars is a train, or could be considered one if engineered properly. Of course, self-driving cars don't run on fixed rails, which costs them a lot of popularity around here. People don't seem to understand that fixed rail is only good for transporting lots and lots of people, very efficiently and safely, from one place where they don't want to be to another place where they don't want to be.
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Which private enterprise has the power to run a hundred billion project that isn’t funded by the government. Not one.
Uber, Google Search Engine, Facebook, etc.
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A network of self-driving cars is a train, or could be considered one if engineered properly. Of course, self-driving cars don't run on fixed rails, which costs them a lot of popularity around here. People don't seem to understand that fixed rail is only good for transporting lots and lots of people, very efficiently and safely, from one place where they don't want to be to another place where they don't want to be.
Well, where I live train stations are generally located very centrally and conveniently in the cities I go to regularly. I'd far rather get a train into the local cities than drive - which would take longer and cost more.
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Well, where I live train stations are generally located very centrally and conveniently in the cities I go to regularly. I'd far rather get a train into the local cities than drive - which would take longer and cost more.
What part of California do you live in?
Edit: As someone who generally likes trains I've tried to use them in California and found it pretty much impossible - but that's a problem with California not "fixed rail".
Self driving cars are expected roll out in the same time frame as this rail project. I think they change the ridership equation. The drive from LAX to SFO is about 6 hours, 3 hours longer than by HSR. But if I can work or sleep in the back I'd prefer to take the car. The car gives me more flexibility at the destination and more privacy, comfort and cargo space. When self driving cars become sufficiently trustworthy a…
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All big infrastructure projects are very expensive, always miss their deadlines and go way over budget; it is the nature of the beast. I'm not saying it is ok or that it could not be managed better: it could and it should. The thing is that the cost of such projects is an investments and a legacy for future generations to enjoy. Imagine if we had to build the BART or the highway system in this they and age. How much…
There's no need for high-speed, long-distance, expensive commuter rail in today's era of high-quality, reliable, free, socially acceptable, and highly available videoconferencing solutions. Business travel is in decline for a reason!
(Typed from a train leaving Tokyo at 320 km/h, with beer and sandwich sold on board)
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All big infrastructure projects are very expensive, always miss their deadlines and go way over budget; it is the nature of the beast. I'm not saying it is ok or that it could not be managed better: it could and it should. The thing is that the cost of such projects is an investments and a legacy for future generations to enjoy. Imagine if we had to build the BART or the highway system in this they and age. How much…
There's no need for high-speed, long-distance, expensive commuter rail in today's era of high-quality, reliable, free, socially acceptable, and highly available videoconferencing solutions. Business travel is in decline for a reason!
While this article finds an issue with the way the Tejon Pass route was eliminated in favor of the Tehachapi Pass route, Tejon Pass route would skip a station in Lancaster/Palmdale, which would be a mistake. As the article acknowledges, these are rapidly growing exurbs that are refuge from the exorbitant land prices in the LA Basin. There is existing commuter rail service between there and Downtown LA, but a HSR is a…
> these are rapidly growing exurbs that are refuge from the exorbitant land prices in the LA Basin. What kind of country are we building where we send people to live in exurbs in a literal barren desert -- I'm not exaggerating, I was in Palmdale a few weeks ago, and it could have inspired Solzhenitsyn -- with a fast train into the city, lest the petit bourgeois of L.A. be forced to live in - ugh - townhomes? There ar…
It does take a little time to learn how to see their beauty, but rest assured, it's there, and many people like it.