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$1,228,000,000.00 and a Streetcar named Desire

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[quote user="henry6"] First, I don't see that multi billion dollar figure you mention in any of today's NewWire items.  But It takes money to do things.  We spend billions and billions doing lots of things in this country.  Other countries spend more.  We have a private enterprise system.  They havent stepped up to do it.  They will benefit by their employees being able to get to and from work quickly and inexpensively.  Retailers will benefit from those who will be able to travel to and from their estabilshiments quickly and inexpensively. Environmentalists have their own set of accomplishments these lines will bring that will lower the costs of living.  But with no private entrapenure willing to do the the job for himself and fellow entrepenures, who should do it?  And how much should they pay? [/quote] Investor owned enterprises (private enterprise) have not invested in passenger rail (intercity or transit) for a very good reason.  They would lose money by the buckets, which would not be acceptable to their investors.  Businesses benefit from local transit, especially if it is economical and, therefore, used by their employees and customers.  They pay taxes to support the systems.  My Dallas corporate employer paid more in local taxes than it paid in federal income taxes.  Some of the monies went to support Dallas Area Rapid Transit.  A relatively small per cent of our employees used DART to get to and from work.  I was one of the few managers who used public transit.  And I was the only senior manager in the company who used it.  The company subsidized the cost of the transit fares.  At the end of the day, however, most of the employees drove to work. The McKinney Avenue Trolley runs from a high density residential complex in Uptown Dallas to downtown Dallas.  It should draw a significant number of commuters.  It doesn't!  Most people in Uptown who work downtown drive.  And they usually don't have to go more than a mile or two. What other countries spend on passenger rail (intercity or transit) is irrelevant to the question of what we should spend.  The same concept applies to what is spent on other activities or what has been wasted on whatever program one thinks is a waste.  The U.S. is a distinct culture; solutions that may be appropriate in Europe or Asia are not necessarily ones that will work in the U.S.  The real questions is where does it make sense in the U.S. to invest in passenger rail (intercity and transit)?
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