rcdryeBus connections were between Oakland (actually 40th and San Pablo in Emeryville) and the Transbay Terminal at First and Mission in San Francisco.
In response to J Bishop's post (somehow, it does not appear in my Trains Passeenger forum, but did come in my email), I was looking at the rail distance between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. The total distance, by rail, from Oakland to Los Angeles via Barstow, was 596 miles. The Santa Fe knew that it could not really compete with the SP via the San Joaquin Valley if it did not utilize buses between Bakersfield and Los Angeles.
Johnny
alphas One major difference is that CA is probably required to hire union labor or, at the least, the infamous "prevailing wage act" requirements will apply. If recent history is any indicator, that will really increase the labor costs and, especially if union labor is required by law, could result in the project taking a lot more time to complete hence greatly increased expense. (Anyone remember Boston's "Big Dig"?) The one in Texas is being built privately so the contractors will only have to pay their normal wages and the work will procide at whatever is the normal pace for the contractor. Local example in my area: a friend drives a dump truck for the largest contractor in the immediate Central PA area. He's told me several times in the last 12 months that his normal pay is just over $19 an hour (and everyone on the job is working at the normal pace) when a private company is paying. When either the state or federal government is providing the funds he gets $36 an hour and the workers slow down.
One major difference is that CA is probably required to hire union labor or, at the least, the infamous "prevailing wage act" requirements will apply. If recent history is any indicator, that will really increase the labor costs and, especially if union labor is required by law, could result in the project taking a lot more time to complete hence greatly increased expense. (Anyone remember Boston's "Big Dig"?) The one in Texas is being built privately so the contractors will only have to pay their normal wages and the work will procide at whatever is the normal pace for the contractor.
Local example in my area: a friend drives a dump truck for the largest contractor in the immediate Central PA area. He's told me several times in the last 12 months that his normal pay is just over $19 an hour (and everyone on the job is working at the normal pace) when a private company is paying. When either the state or federal government is providing the funds he gets $36 an hour and the workers slow down.
California does not have and never will have a Right to Work law, nor do we or will we ever have a law that says workers have to be unionized. Remember, this is California you're talking about, they can hire anyone from anywhere they want, even bringing in out of state contractors and workers, which won't cause an uproar like it is un Nevada with Telsa's Gigafactory.
The applicable CA law might not necessarily require union membership but does it require a "prevaling wage"? Normally, if any federal money is involved the "prevailing wage" law [Davis-Bacon] applies and that is basically what top union wages are. Some states also have their own "prevailing wage" laws which are similar to the federal law.
My friend's example that I quoted is under a mandated "prevailing wage" law that does not require him to be in a union but he must receives the equivalent of top union wages whenever he works on a government project that falls under "prevailing wage". In PA the most common projects falling under "prevailing wage" are road construction or related and building of/major remodeling to/additions to both public buildings and public schools. NOTE: The "prevailing wage" public school requirement is a particularly tough one on the local communities as it adds approximately 20% to the total cost, which is mainly funded by the local school property tax, without any benefit to speak of. And now there's been several studies that indicate that the few non-union companies that do manage to get a public school contract (which can occur in the less urban areas), all though they are required to pay "prevailing wage"under the prevailing wage laws, normally produce better quality work as measured by problems occurring in the years following the completion of the project.
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