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[quote user="ROBERT WILLISON"] Looks like the heartland is a bad example of how regional service might work opposed to a national system . its amazing that Texas and Oklahoma is arguing over a few million to sustain the service.[/quote] In FY14 the Heartland Flyer lost $1.9 million before depreciation and interest.  If my numbers for depreciation and interest are correct - they are based on the cost of the equipment and its service lives, which I got from a seemingly authoriative source, the total loss was $2.1 million.   For FY15, according to Amtrak's budget, the estimated fully allocated loss for the Flyer is $3.1 million.  For FY16 the estimated loss is $5.2 million. These numbers get closer to the numbers shown in the Oklahoma Gazzette and may be the ones referred to in the article. Ridership on the Heartland Flyer declined from 87,873 in FY12 to 81,346 in FY13 and 77,861 in FY14.  According to Amtrak's budgets, the projected ridership for FY15 is 85,800.  For FY16 it is 83,760. Texas is a comparatively low tax state. But its debt burden is growing at a faster clip than its population and inflation, as per the figures shown in the next paragraph.  Between 1992 and 2010 the combined growth in population and inflation, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, was 121 per cent. Over the same period school taxes increased 164 per cent; city taxes increased 192 per cent; county taxes increased 229 per cent; and special district taxes (hospitals, community colleges, etc.) increased 263 per cent.  According to the Tax Foundations's State Tax Facts and Figures, Table 36, in 2012 Texas state debt per capita was 45th in the nation.  But when local debt is added to the pot, as per Table 37 of the same publication, the total state tax burden places Texas in 12th place. Texas is 25th in the nation for per capita income, as per the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as Table 38 of the Facts and Figures.  However, this number is skewed significantly by the relatively high incomes in DFW, Houston, Austin, and Midland.  In many parts of the state the per capital income is as much as 15 to 20 per cent below the national averages. When the total tax burden is taken into consideration, Texans have reason to be concerned, especially given that their average median 2009 - 2013 household income is roughly three per cent below the national median. This means that Texans, on average, have less money to service their growing state debt burden.  So what seems like a squabble over a few million dollars for the Heartland Flyer, when put in perspective, at least from a Texas point of view, becomes an issue.  Texas has a lot of pressing needs.  The Heartland Flyer is way down the list of  priorities, if in fact it is even on the list.
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