It used to be that social security was called the third rail of national politics. Well now light rail is the third rail of local politics. Light rail is coming to Phoenix. Its coming to other places like Seattle too. Its in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Chicago, of course New York and many other fine cities. So why is it such a complete money pit? The answer is simple, nobody rides it. But liberals love it because it satisfy's two of their agendas. I will get to that later.
In two separate studies forecasting their system participation , one in Phoenix and one in Seattle, best estimates in both are that light rail will be used by 2% of the metro population. Wow. Be still my bleeding heart. Meanwhile each city will spend over forty billion dollars to build light rail.
When I lived in Seattle, my wife and I only had one car. Only needed one. The bus system there was superb. The wife took the bus to and from work every day. Worked out great. When we moved to Phoenix, I don't think I saw a bus for four months. I see more now than when we moved here ten years ago but the Valley of the Sun has a horrible, terrible bus transit system for being the 5th largest city in the nation.
But instead of stregthening the metro system they invest in light rail. Why? Light rail has never, ever been a viable (read: profitable) mode of transportation for any city, excluding the subway system of downtown New York. Phoenix is certainly not NYC. The population per square mile in New York County is 66,940 people. In Maricopa County where Phoenix and its suburbs are located has 333 people per square mile. A lot more people benefit from light rail there than here.
Light rail has not even been finished in Phoenix and already there is strain on the traffic system. To fund light rail they siphoned off half of the money from taxes that went to highway building and repair. Well now they can't fill the potholes and have had to extend the time lines on completing much needed freeway systems in the outlaying areas. To combat this problem one local representative thought we could turn the carpool lanes into toll roads and that money would help fix and finish the roads.
The Phoenix project already admits it needs more funding because the architects failed to develop any substantial parking areas for those that will commute with light rail and those few areas they do have don't have any overhead cover. Have you every got into a car after it's sat in the 115 degree sun of desert summer? Its a 140 degrees in there. On top of that do you really think there is an action plan to dismantle light rail if its not able to support itself? Of course not. As the system gets older costs will go up to maintain the equipment and as urban sprawl becomes greater, even less people will available to use the system.
Why would anyone want to use light rail when its a fixed system and a slow one at that. Of course they can't go faster than 30 mph lest some poor pedestrian misses all the curbs, rails and signs and gets hit by a moving train. The average 20 minute commute by car now becomes twice that when factoring waiting for the train to arrive and its slow progress through its stops. Don't forget that with urban sprawl you have to drive your car to get to the rail station.
The real crux is that liberals can accomplish two things with light rail. First, it makes them feel that they are making a real difference helping the less fortunate travel around town and perhaps get some of those fortunate enough to drive gas guzzler to give up their personal freedom for public transportation. When they drive by those light rail trains in their BMW's they can feel just a little bit better about themselves because they are good people.
Secondly, light rail means more taxes for things like expansion, improvement, maintenance and study. What is a grandiose unprofitable Utopian public works project without the inherent oversight committee that makes the failure look like a positive in the media?
What Phoenix really needs is more buses and a finished highway program. Lets bust out to 24 lane highways as was proposed a year after light rail was passed because even liberal law makers agree, light rail won't make a dent at all in traffic congestion. But they feel better about themselves. Why not, they got your money for light rail and they'll get your money when your frustrated about being stuck in traffic as the almost empty rail train crawls by.
For $40 billion they could buy every resident driver of Maricopa county a new 40 mpg hybrid car. Now that would really drop carbon emissions and make a dent in traffic congestion. Those cars are so small you can fit twice as many into a daily traffic jam.
In two separate studies forecasting their system participation , one in Phoenix and one in Seattle, best estimates in both are that light rail will be used by 2% of the metro population. Wow. Be still my bleeding heart. Meanwhile each city will spend over forty billion dollars to build light rail.
When I lived in Seattle, my wife and I only had one car. Only needed one. The bus system there was superb. The wife took the bus to and from work every day. Worked out great. When we moved to Phoenix, I don't think I saw a bus for four months. I see more now than when we moved here ten years ago but the Valley of the Sun has a horrible, terrible bus transit system for being the 5th largest city in the nation.
But instead of stregthening the metro system they invest in light rail. Why? Light rail has never, ever been a viable (read: profitable) mode of transportation for any city, excluding the subway system of downtown New York. Phoenix is certainly not NYC. The population per square mile in New York County is 66,940 people. In Maricopa County where Phoenix and its suburbs are located has 333 people per square mile. A lot more people benefit from light rail there than here.
Light rail has not even been finished in Phoenix and already there is strain on the traffic system. To fund light rail they siphoned off half of the money from taxes that went to highway building and repair. Well now they can't fill the potholes and have had to extend the time lines on completing much needed freeway systems in the outlaying areas. To combat this problem one local representative thought we could turn the carpool lanes into toll roads and that money would help fix and finish the roads.
The Phoenix project already admits it needs more funding because the architects failed to develop any substantial parking areas for those that will commute with light rail and those few areas they do have don't have any overhead cover. Have you every got into a car after it's sat in the 115 degree sun of desert summer? Its a 140 degrees in there. On top of that do you really think there is an action plan to dismantle light rail if its not able to support itself? Of course not. As the system gets older costs will go up to maintain the equipment and as urban sprawl becomes greater, even less people will available to use the system.
Why would anyone want to use light rail when its a fixed system and a slow one at that. Of course they can't go faster than 30 mph lest some poor pedestrian misses all the curbs, rails and signs and gets hit by a moving train. The average 20 minute commute by car now becomes twice that when factoring waiting for the train to arrive and its slow progress through its stops. Don't forget that with urban sprawl you have to drive your car to get to the rail station.
The real crux is that liberals can accomplish two things with light rail. First, it makes them feel that they are making a real difference helping the less fortunate travel around town and perhaps get some of those fortunate enough to drive gas guzzler to give up their personal freedom for public transportation. When they drive by those light rail trains in their BMW's they can feel just a little bit better about themselves because they are good people.
Secondly, light rail means more taxes for things like expansion, improvement, maintenance and study. What is a grandiose unprofitable Utopian public works project without the inherent oversight committee that makes the failure look like a positive in the media?
What Phoenix really needs is more buses and a finished highway program. Lets bust out to 24 lane highways as was proposed a year after light rail was passed because even liberal law makers agree, light rail won't make a dent at all in traffic congestion. But they feel better about themselves. Why not, they got your money for light rail and they'll get your money when your frustrated about being stuck in traffic as the almost empty rail train crawls by.
For $40 billion they could buy every resident driver of Maricopa county a new 40 mpg hybrid car. Now that would really drop carbon emissions and make a dent in traffic congestion. Those cars are so small you can fit twice as many into a daily traffic jam.
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