[PRCo] Re: Fw: lancaster_streetcar_ridership_survey.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Tue Nov 11 22:55:03 EST 2008

Nothing wrong with a new system, Jerry....

I'll happily support any new system that gives me a bang for my buck.

Unfortunately the politicians feel the only real money is local  
money.  They think federal dollars are free.

And the federal legislators love to give out money for buses because  
they are small grants and a lot of small grants mean a lot of  
politicians can send out press releases to newspapers saying look  
what I did for you.    So there is no reality check.

But I happen to believe that you and I and Ken and Ed and some chap  
living in Pierre, South Dakota or Sioux Ste. Marie, Michigan are also  
paying in those Federal dollars and they should go where we get some  
reasonable return for them.   Just because I live in Lancaster and  
paid federal taxes does not necessarily mean I want that money coming  
her for a crazy boondoggle of a project.

If one third of all transit fares in the United States are lifted in  
New York City because it is so damn congested that you have to ride  
transit, then I'll happily support paying for that extension of the  
Hudson - Bergen Light Rail into Bergen County (if the damn  
politicians will ever get off their asses and do it).    I happen to  
believe a light rail car in Bergen County running with a standing  
load most of the day will save a whole more fossil fuel than buses in  
Cheyanne, Wyoming or Montgomery, Alabama or Lancaster, Pennsylvania  
running with three or passengers on each trip.   And if someone  
suggests a light rail line from JFK Airport to Jamaica to Flushing, I  
think it would something we should listen to.   Maybe it should a  
subway and the light rail should be farther out on the island.

There are over 20 million people living in the counties that makes up  
Los Angeles and San Diego ... you want more light rail in San Diego  
or Los Angeles?   Be my guest.   The voters in California just  
approved the preliminaries for high speed rail between San Francisco  
and Los Angeles.   I can easily see that corridor turning into  
another New Jersey if the water does not run out first and it is  
likely that the gasoline will run out before the water.   High speed  
rail driven by electricity generated by wind farms?   Why not.   The  
politicians sold a bill of goods to get it through.   The claim 400  
miles in 2.5 hours.   I bet it will be more like 4 hours initially  
because no one will do the high speed parts from San Jose north and  
Glendale south immediately, but so what.   You have to start big  
things somewhere.   But 4 hours compares to one hour driving to the  
airport plus two hours in security plus one hour on the plane plus  
another hour getting your luggage back and another hour getting back  
downtown ... Hmmm 4 hours on the train initially versus 6 on the  
plane versus 8 in your car if you can afford the gas.   And 20 years  
from now perhaps the air ticket with fuel surcharges is up to $2,000?

If Denver or Salt Lake City or St. Louis wants to expand light rail,  
have at it.   But St. Louis is already saying no.   How about  
Chicago.   You can save a lot of money putting people on mass transit  
in that area.   I have no problem with the plans in Dallas or Houston.

But if some doofus wants trolleys in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.   Get  
real.   That has more holes in it than a ton of Swiss cheese.   How  
about light rail for Huntsville, Alabama or Branson, Missouri while  
were at it?

Not sure Jerry how to approach this to make my thoughts totally clear...

Gasoline has dropped from $4.00 a gallon to $2.25 because no one is  
buying it.   Also dropped partially because the dollar  
strengthened.   It should have gone up to $5.00 because of the laws  
of supply and demand.   Logic is telling me that when we come out of  
this recession or depression (politicians will find a new name to  
make it sound better, mark my words), then gas prices will go through  
the roof again.   (I just topped off my tank at $2.199 and wished I  
had about a 10,000 gallon tank to fill as a hedge against the  
future.   I could probably have filled that big a tank at $2.07).

But right now the economy sucks.   Depending on how you measure it,  
we could be in the worse downturn in 40 years.   We've gone from  
something over 4.6% of the labor force out of work in the summer of  
2007 to 6.5% in October and the major non-seasonal, unpredictable  
layoffs are continuing.   The rate is continuing to climb.   Right  
now it is the highest it has been since 1993.  The recent record is  
10.8% in November and December 1982 when steel collapsed.   After  
that it peaked at 7.8% in the summer of 1993.   The years 1949, 1958  
and some in the late 1970s were also bad.      You can use this link  
if you want to look at it.   http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/ 
SurveyOutputServlet   But we didn't have the problems with the dollar  
then that we are having now.   And we never, before Chrysler, had the  
U. S. government saying we have to bail out all these companies in  
the national interest (and borrow money from the Chinese or the Arabs  
to do it?????).

So we need the transit projects for the future.   And with the cost  
of fuel down right now, construction costs will also be down.   But  
how do you sell construction bonds right now?????   If we do  
construct things, that puts people to work.   Remember that Roosevelt  
put a lot of people to work with WPA projects in the 1930s.   Japan  
put the rest of them to work by bombing Pearl Harbor.

The strange thing about this economic collapse and unlike the one in  
1929 is this time we are totally locked into the economies of other  
nations and we brought down everybody the same day and not  
gradually.   I have a friend who works as a manager for German Rail  
in Munich who was moaning that Deutschebank was sending billions of  
Euros to Shearson Lehman after they went bankrupt without knowing yet  
what happened!!!!  The clocks hadn't caught up.

Times like this Jerry when I wish I had not changed my major from  
accounting and economics to geology.

I have as many questions as anyone else ... not too many good answers  
either.

And you asked for the response.   I hope the state stays solvent and  
my pension hangs in there.

On Nov 11, 2008, at 9:02 PM, Jerry MATT Matsick wrote:

> I look forward to Fred's comments on this "ridership survey" - are  
> these people for real?
> Economic times like they are and they are going to waste money on a  
> new system!
> --
> Jerry "Matt" Matsick
> Jacksonville, Florida !
> -------------- Original message from "Ken and Tracie"  
> <ktjosephson at embarqmail.com>: --------------
>
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dale Laird"
>> To:
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 4:30 PM
>> Subject: lancaster_streetcar_ridership_survey.pdf (application/pdf  
>> Object)
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Look at page 43. The PCC ranked low. I wonder if the respondents
>>> actually know what it is like to sit on a wood slat seat vs a  
>>> vinyl foam
>>> seat?
>>>> http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/lancastercity/lib/lancastercity/ 
>>>> lancaster_streetca
>> r_ridership_survey.pdf
>>
>>
>
>
>