Government “experts” have argued for decades that public transit is the way to go.
Get people out of their cars and into government owned and operated transportation vehicles.
There is only one problem.
Most people like their independence. Take California.
Fewer people in California are using public transit. The Los Angeles Times reported the declining ridership. In Orange County, CA, bus ridership has fallen 30%, and 4-5% over the last four quarters. And all of this despite a $9 billion investment!
Here are other reasons why California residents are turning down public transit:
- Unresponsive Bureaucrats
- The unreliable wait times.
- The unclean conditions.
- The threats of assault
- The rise of private ride-share programs, like Uber and Lyft.
- Cost overruns from politicians
This decline in public transit should encourage California residents to demand the stop to the California high-speed rail.
The cost overruns are enormous, now totaling beyond the $68 billion price tag, which was reduced from $98 billion following the decision to remove rail lines from San Francisco to San Jose, and from Los Angeles to Anaheim.
And the original bond established that the high-speed rail would start in Fresno.
With cost overruns, bureaucratic tangles, waste, financial mismanagement, plus attacks on private property, Governor Brown’s “crazy train” is turning from futuristic caboose to billion-dollar boondoggle with no recourse for better planning or execution in sight.
Tell me your thoughts. Email me at craig@craighuey.com
Comments 1
Aaaaahhhh, “Moonbeam” Brown strikes again!!!! Sing it: “whatever Jerry wants, Jerry gets” to the tune of that old movie. ANOTHER waste of taxpayers’ “hard-earned” money. When I was a kid, I had to visit my dad in the desert by bus. I swore to myself that I would NEVER take another bus, as long as I could afford not to. Dirty buses with vomit on the floors,and I caught the worst sore throat of my life on one of them. Trains are a little better, but planes are a heck of a lot faster. I took a train/bus from San Diego to Livermore (500 miles) and it took 12 hours! Afterwards, I found out, if I had spent $15 MORE, I could have flown there in 1.5 hours instead. Forge the bullet train and spend it on infrastructure: bridges, freeways, etc.