Thread started by User1 at 07.30.08 - 3:46 pm

With gas prices skyrocketing, public transit ridership is at an all time high. Instead of cutting back on public transportation services, we should be reforming our national transportation system to create more affordable travel options for the whole country.

Check out our 10 Facts About Oil and Gas to learn more.

96

Percent of the world's transportation energy currently supplied by oil.

$75

Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2007.

$131

Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2008.

9.6 billion

Number of fewer miles Americans drove in May 2008 compared to May 2007.

10.3 billion

Number of trips taken via the U.S. public transportation system in 2007, the highest in 50 years.

44

Percent increase in price of diesel fuel paid by public transit agencies.

20

Percent of America's public transit agencies that are cutting services due to budget constraints.

46

Percent of population that has no access to public transit.

$6,251

Amount the average two-worker household saves annually by taking public transportation instead of driving a car.

2030

Year by which lifting the ban on offshore drilling may start to impact the price of gas.

Sources:

• Institute for the Analysis of Global Security


• USA Today, July 28, 2008


• American Public Transporation Association



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What bugs me is how people say "oh, well the Europeans having been paying similar prices for years and they didn't make a big stink about it."

Yeah, they didn't because the heaps of taxes levied on fuel in Europe are RETURNED to the consumers through their reallocation to social services like public transportation, health care and others.



0gravity
07.30.08 - 3:57 pm

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and you expect something as massive as expanding a public transportation network to happen in a few months? Dream on. Look how long it's taking to even get a light rail expansion to an existing network on the Westside.




mk4524
07.30.08 - 4:05 pm

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(Hopefully I just cleared up the formatting above)

Sadly we don't have confidence in our government that they would do the same as the Europeans do. When we set monies aside for public transportation for example, often it gets used in other ways, such as balancing the budget.



User1
07.30.08 - 4:07 pm

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I always wonder why nobody complains about paying $6 a gallon for bottled drinking water, not to mention the cost of the black ink for deskjet printers..

I think HP Ink #45 is the most expensive liquid on the planet?




ChaosRR
07.30.08 - 4:21 pm

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Only one way to fix this. We must build more BIKE CARZ and provide public transport for all!



Lizzard
07.30.08 - 5:15 pm

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lol wut



Purp
07.30.08 - 5:42 pm

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This is exactly why it's time for some private industry to step up and make some dough off this situation.
Since capitalism is somewhat of a two-way street, I'd like to be able to give my money to whatever bus/train service that will be running in mu neck of the woods.

Yeah, there's GayHound and other stupid shit like that, but we need something that operates in a more, urban-friendly way.
It would also be nice to see some private, street-car lines running as well.

The longer we wait for the US Gov't to get off their collective ass, the longer anything won't happen.

Kind of like how police services are laughable in some areas, yet certain dumbshits fight to keep guns out of everyone's hands.

You want anything done right, you got to do it yourself!!!



bentstrider
07.30.08 - 6:30 pm

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Everytime I write a check, I quickly understand the need to balance the budget. A signiificant portion of the Federal budget is merely to service the debt resulting from not balancing a budget. At the state level, it's in the Consititution and the state isn't allowed to have an unbalanced budget.

As far as what the Europeans would do, I wish you would be more specific. I don't see Europe as a monolithic block, instead I see a collection of independent and sovereign nations and aside from the common market, each seems to exercise a degree of autonomy in making their decisions on how they allocate resources. Are you saying they all have confidence in their government to do the right thing?

I thought a more libertarian view would be to keep the government out of the whole process and not have government subsidies. We should allow the private sector to deal with this issue. That way, if the transportation network earns a decent return on investment, it will happen.




mk4524
07.30.08 - 7:33 pm

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This is exactly why it's time for some private industry to step up and make some dough off this situation.

I'd like you to cite a case where private industry was able to step up and do it. You need to pull out a calculator and crank in some numbers for some basic return on investment analysis and you will probably see it's a real big money loser. There's a lot of venture capital money floating around and if turning it over to the private sector were such an easy way to make money, believe me, it would have been done a long time ago.

I don't know if you know how much the capital costs would be to fund this and how many investors are willing to take a chance on such a risky investment. Then, if you want rail, get ready for some enormous start up costs.

So if you want it done right and you need to do it yourself, what's stopping you? Without a lot of government help, I'm not sure you could even get started.



mk4524
07.30.08 - 10:54 pm

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I consider myself far more of a socialist than a liberalist even though both have elements I find attractive. Most of Europe tends to be a bit of both with a little more leaning towards a socialist EU. I think what really makes the union in Europe work is that it is a highly educated continent. Everyone pretty much can see that their infrastructure will not work unless they all work together. Getting everyone on the same page works wonders! That includes the private sector that's just in it for the money. Ideally the government and it's people hold the private sector in check and responsible for its' actions. All things missing here in the states.



User1
07.30.08 - 11:00 pm

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