Once again sam1 can only engage in personal attacks: "Whew, is this is supposedly from people with advanced degrees. I now [sic!] bib overall wearers who would not make these assertions."
Interesting how you make a superficial and inaccurate conclusion, which demeans the many folks who wear bib overalls as part of their work or personal preference. But then, that sort of contempt for others is to be expected of someone who has ridiculed mass transit in the past because he is bothered by people who "shout into cell phones."
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
A constructive prescription I have been making all along, both as an improvement to train advocacy and as a plan to getting more trains is 1) don't scold the voting electorate upon whom you are counting to support funding, and 2) don't overstate, over-sell, or over-promise as you are setting yourself up for failure.
To use a sports analogy, the Green Bay Packers are about to embark on summer training camp and they are going to sweep the season and win the Super Bowl. No, they are not. Yes, I suppose they could win the Super Bowl and they did just that in recent years, but there are so many competing teams and so many ways they could start out great and fizzle as they did last year. And expressing that point of view doesn't make me a closet Bears (or heaven forbid, a Vikings) enthusiast.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
schlimm Once again sam1 can only engage in personal attacks: "Whew, is this is supposedly from people with advanced degrees. I now [sic!] bib overall wearers who would not make these assertions." Interesting how you make a superficial and inaccurate conclusion, which demeans the many folks who wear bib overalls as part of their work or personal preference. But then, that sort of contempt for others is to be expected of someone who has ridiculed mass transit in the past because he is bothered by people who "shout into cell phones.
Interesting how you make a superficial and inaccurate conclusion, which demeans the many folks who wear bib overalls as part of their work or personal preference. But then, that sort of contempt for others is to be expected of someone who has ridiculed mass transit in the past because he is bothered by people who "shout into cell phones.
Both points have been taken out of context. My comment regarding people with advanced degrees, which was generic, was in response to an allegation that I have hidden agendas that spring from an ideology. Presumably a conservative ideology, although no one posting to these forums has a clue as to my ideology or even if I have one. The comment came from person(s) claiming to have advanced degrees.
Although I worked for one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, I was a senior manager on the mining, gas, and IT sides our our business for most of my career. I worked closely with bib overall workers. I have an enormous respect for them. Not once did I hear any of them make reference to hidden agendas or ideologies without any evidence to support their views. Not once!
The comment about people shouting into cell phones was included as part of a post regarding why most people in Texas, if I remember correctly, don't use public transport. In Dallas/Fort Worth, which has the largest light rail system in the United States, approximately 4.8 per cent of the population use any form of public transport, i.e. bus, commuter rail, light rail, van pool, etc. One of the reasons, according to articles that have appeared in the Dallas Morning New and Fort Worth Star Telegram, is rude behavior on the part of some riders. Shouting into a cell phone is one of those behaviors.
Here is what Michael Gillis, a Metra spokesman noted, "There's something particularly annoying about listening to one half of a cell phone conversation, and we hear that back from our riders repeatedly." Mr. Gillis, I believe, is a spokesman for the (a) Chicago commuter rail operation.
Amtrak understands Mr. Gillis observation. It is why they have implemented quiet cars on all Northeast Regional trains, as well as many of those in the California corridors.
I rode public transport in Dallas for more than 33 years. I was one of seven managers out of more than 700 managers in our company who used it. I still ride public transit (train and bus) to the University of Texas two days a week. I have seen enough bad and annoying behavior on public transport to understand why most people in Texas shun it.
I wonder how many of the people who post to these forums are regular transit riders? My guess is not many, but I don't have any evidence to know for sure. It is just a guess. Now is the time for them to step forward and attest to their regular ridership on public transit. Not what they did before they retired. What they do now!
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Let´s move on!
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