2006.01.27
Bite the Bullet Train
Right now there is a bond measure up for the November 2006 elections to fund high speed rail in California. It’s a great idea, and will be important in the future as fuel and energy costs go up and people can’t afford to travel by car and air like they are used to today. Unfortunately the measure is in trouble and might never even get started.
Americans love their cars. I’m no exception. However when I started driving gas costed 80 cents a gallon. Tonight I paid $2.45. Prices are only going to go up; gasoline is a finite resource. Eventually it will cost too much for me to drive and I’ll give up the car.
At that point, if I want to visit SoCal, how will I get there? If I can’t afford the car I doubt I’d be able to buy a plane ticket. Trains, if they are built correctly and run on something aside from fossil fuels, are pretty inexpensive.
The Governor recently proposed all kinds of infrastructure improvements for California. Among the improvements was for our road system. To me it makes far more sense to invest (or go further in debt as it looks like his proposals actually would do) in transportation that has longevity. Pour those billions of dollars into research for actual electric engines powered by hydrogen or into trains.
For more information about trains visit the California Hi Speed Rail Authority. Thanks to Alan for inspiring this entry. His email is below the fold.
If you support high speed rail in California, Please forward the attached letter to your state senator to make sure the high-speed rail bond measure gets on the ballot in 2006. The governator is quietly trying to derail it at the moment. Once you’ve sent the letter, please forward this email to as many people as you can.
Here is the high-speed rail website, if you’re not already familiar with it:
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/
Senator Don Perata (Oakland):
Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov
Senator Carole Migden (SF/Marin):
senator.migden@sen.ca.gov
Senator Jackie Speier (SF/ San Mateo):
senator.speier@sen.ca.gov
RE: California High Speed Rail Bond
Dear Senator _______,
I am writing to urge you to support the California high-speed rail bond measure and ensure that it is included on the ballot in the 2006 elections. It is absolutely imperative for California to address its housing and transportation problems in a manner which does not exacerbate suburban sprawl and create more congestion a few years down the road. High speed rail represents a means for Californians to embrace transit-oriented development and ensure that there is a real alternative to spending hours and hours in traffic on the state’s highways. The social, environmental, and transportation benefits of the system will far surpass the benefits of expanding California’s highway system. The system will be faster, more efficient, and will create far less pollution than travel by car or airplane, while also encouraging denser, pedestrian-friendly development patterns which will enable the revitalization of urban centers throughout the state.
The billions of dollars allocated to highways in Schwarzenegger’s infrastructure bond measure will far exceed the cost of the high speed rail bond, and their cumulative impact will be much more minimal. In light of this, I urge you to fight Schwarzenegger’s bond measure, or at the very least, insist that it should be modified to include full funding for the high speed rail system.
Sincerely,
____________
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