Buses get you where you want to go at a reasonable cost. They can be re-routed as needs change. Lite rail is expensive to build and routes are set in stone. They never made sense once the motorized bus became a reality. Yet the Leftist mind is fascinated by rail travel. It's a 19th century solution to a problem no one had. Since the 1920s we've had buses. Now we have natural gas powered buses. They're clean and quiet. We don't need lite rail. Trains are great for moving large amounts of cargo over land. They suck at moving small numbers of people to jobs that don't exist anymore.
Big, ambitious, expensive infrastructure projects also mean lots of money to spread around. Politicians give a lot of money to some government agency, which hires consultants and contractors, who hire subcontractors, who all funnel campaign contributions back to the politicians, who allocate more money. And all that money can be spent without actually building anything. In fact, the less that gets built, the better, because money not spent on materials and equipment can be spent on consultants. Money changes hands, and people get rich, and nothing gets built.
regarding the streetcar line in DC, advocates claimed that economic development would be more successful with rail because biz owners could see the transit improvement was permanent
The wife and I took our young grandsons on light rail just for fun. We thought it would nice to take them on a 20 mile trip from Sacramento to Folsom and have lunch there. Never again. The light rail trains are where the ranting zombie crazies spend their daytime hours. Smelly dirty men wrapped in filthy blankets ranting about who knows what. The get so close you grab your loved ones near you while planning how you're going to respond if one decides to attack. Nope, I'll never go on one again unless I'm alone and packing a gun. Seriously. When I was a younger man I didn't worry too much about weirdos. I figured I could take care of myself. But what am I going to do if some wacko decides to go after my wife or my grandkids? I'm in my 70s and I think I could still fend off most of those guys but do I want to risk it? Nope. If RT would put some cops on the trains and check riders for their tickets they could clean it up but I think the city and RT would prefer to pretend it's not a dangerous place for normal people and hope it'll just go away. Meanwhile, no one rides it because the dowtown jobs went away with COVID and the governor is just now, in 2026 forcing state workers to go to their offices 4 days a week. Light rail is a Leftist fantasy. Just put it out of its misery and provide clean safe bus service at a fraction of the cost.
Buses get you where you want to go at a reasonable cost. They can be re-routed as needs change. Lite rail is expensive to build and routes are set in stone. They never made sense once the motorized bus became a reality. Yet the Leftist mind is fascinated by rail travel. It's a 19th century solution to a problem no one had. Since the 1920s we've had buses. Now we have natural gas powered buses. They're clean and quiet. We don't need lite rail. Trains are great for moving large amounts of cargo over land. They suck at moving small numbers of people to jobs that don't exist anymore.
Excellent common sense response👍 It’s a shame we can’t have more common sense in government.
Big, ambitious, expensive infrastructure projects also mean lots of money to spread around. Politicians give a lot of money to some government agency, which hires consultants and contractors, who hire subcontractors, who all funnel campaign contributions back to the politicians, who allocate more money. And all that money can be spent without actually building anything. In fact, the less that gets built, the better, because money not spent on materials and equipment can be spent on consultants. Money changes hands, and people get rich, and nothing gets built.
regarding the streetcar line in DC, advocates claimed that economic development would be more successful with rail because biz owners could see the transit improvement was permanent
heh
Americans simply hate streetcars 🤣 Why rip out the streetcar lines instead of making streetcars a pleasant public transit alternative?
The wife and I took our young grandsons on light rail just for fun. We thought it would nice to take them on a 20 mile trip from Sacramento to Folsom and have lunch there. Never again. The light rail trains are where the ranting zombie crazies spend their daytime hours. Smelly dirty men wrapped in filthy blankets ranting about who knows what. The get so close you grab your loved ones near you while planning how you're going to respond if one decides to attack. Nope, I'll never go on one again unless I'm alone and packing a gun. Seriously. When I was a younger man I didn't worry too much about weirdos. I figured I could take care of myself. But what am I going to do if some wacko decides to go after my wife or my grandkids? I'm in my 70s and I think I could still fend off most of those guys but do I want to risk it? Nope. If RT would put some cops on the trains and check riders for their tickets they could clean it up but I think the city and RT would prefer to pretend it's not a dangerous place for normal people and hope it'll just go away. Meanwhile, no one rides it because the dowtown jobs went away with COVID and the governor is just now, in 2026 forcing state workers to go to their offices 4 days a week. Light rail is a Leftist fantasy. Just put it out of its misery and provide clean safe bus service at a fraction of the cost.
The light rail isn’t causing the crimes. Streetcars are not responsible for crime and public disorder in California.
He didn't say that light rail causes crime. He said it attracts it, and that the people who run the transit system don't do anything about it.