On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 23:19:23 -0400, "Daniel J. Stern"
wrote:

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, Dave Head wrote:

A much better transit system than Indianapolis is Washington, DC.
considerable distance to the platform, got on after about a 10 minute
wait, transferred to another train that was about a 15 minute wait...
Now, the trains run 60 mph at top speed, but they aren't at top speed
very much. They stop... and stop... and stop... Average speed is
pretty low, actually. Then you add the waiting when changing trains.

I was in DC last winter for the National Academy of Sciences
Transportation Research Board meeting. No fewer than *SIX consecutive
times* one evening, a train pulled into a major station, doors opened,
lots of passengers got on, doors closed, doors opened, and an announcement
came on the PA: "This train is now going out of service. All passengers
please exit." At one train every ten minutes, it took me an hour *just to
get on a train*. And this on one of the world's (generally justifiably)
renowned transit systems.

Yeah - a transit system has to be reliable and predictable, too.

As for waiting on transit, _nobody_ likes to wait. On anything. But
waiting on a train is generally done in the weather, no matter if it is
raining, snowing, -20 degrees or 105 degrees. Its done in the rain, and
in the sun. Throw in an occasional mosquito for good measure. Then
there's the exposure to the criminal element,

...and the microbiological element. And the alcoholic element. And the
screaming-baby element. And the gangbanger playing yo-yo-bitches-yo rap at
cochlea-rending volume element. And the gaggle of teenagers whose every
other word is "****" element. And the panhandler element. And the "Is that
**** I smell?" element.

Yes, people want their privacy that only comes with driving a car. My personal
dream is a personal rapid transit that carries cars, preferably at high speed.
Inside cities at not so high speed, or running across the plains at 150 mph,
people would _choose_ it over driving, which is the all important criterion.
If people will choose it every time, then it can make money.

Dave Head

DS