LA News today

On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.

While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.

On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:53:18 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.
While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.
The problem with high speed train crashes is trying to keep on schedules when you have to deal with people moving on and off of a train causing delays.. I suppose you could automate the system but then you'd have to throw out any real scheduling.

On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 17:53:16 -0700 (PDT), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.

While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.

An interesting statement. But I read that since 1964 there have been
no fatalities nor injuries to passengers of the shinkansen since it
began operations.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/ea...as-crack-found
That is 57 years and "The shinkansen service Nozomi 34 had suffered a
“structural anomaly”

Your reference for the "quite a few crashes" will be interesting to
see.
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 17:58:04 -0700 (PDT), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:53:18 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.
While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.
The problem with high speed train crashes is trying to keep on schedules when you have to deal with people moving on and off of a train causing delays. I suppose you could automate the system but then you'd have to throw out any real scheduling.

https://www.traveller.com.au/five-th...on-time-gocshf
The average delay of the nation's fleet of bullet train, known locally
as the Shinkansen, is less than 60 seconds This statistic also
includes unavoidable, major delays such as typhoons and earthquakes.

Your reference for "people moving on and off of a train causing
delays"?
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 6/13/2021 7:53 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.

While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.


They do indeed. Just like every other rail system on earth.

Just amazingly fewer.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 6/13/2021 8:42 PM, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/



I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable.
Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close
to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and
they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast
have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high
maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail
gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers
have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for
high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge.
But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on
the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high
speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail
gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you
know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high
speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and
trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly
in a third the time and a 10th the cost?


With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over Japan for
several years I can assure you that US standard rail gauge is quite
functional in a nicely engineered and maintained system.

We rode the TGV in France. Standard track gauge, and a very nice ride.
Much more convenient than air travel, at least for us, and not
expensive. Or if it was, it didn't bother me.

I assume it's subsidized by the French national government - that is,
not expected to make a profit. One can make a case for that. For
example, the same applies to freeways in the U.S.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On 6/13/2021 7:58 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:53:18 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.
While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.
The problem with high speed train crashes is trying to keep on schedules when you have to deal with people moving on and off of a train causing delays. I suppose you could automate the system but then you'd have to throw out any real scheduling.


On the Shinkansen? Hardly.

Being a nuisance, holding up the line or any such thing is
'just not done'. Yes, it's a Japanese train system on
Japanese rail, but it's also filled with Japanese passengers.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 20:43:08 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 6/13/2021 7:58 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:53:18 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.
While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.
The problem with high speed train crashes is trying to keep on schedules when you have to deal with people moving on and off of a train causing delays. I suppose you could automate the system but then you'd have to throw out any real scheduling.


On the Shinkansen? Hardly.

Being a nuisance, holding up the line or any such thing is
'just not done'. Yes, it's a Japanese train system on
Japanese rail, but it's also filled with Japanese passengers.

Even years ago when I was stationed in Japan and rode the trains they
seemed to run on schedule. In fact they had train officials at the
stations to push passengers onto the trains rapidly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7kor5nHtZQ
or the Tokyo Subway
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/0...-of-japan.html
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 6/13/2021 9:11 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 20:43:08 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 6/13/2021 7:58 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:53:18 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:42:27 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 7:31 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 5:03:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/13/2021 6:26 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/10/2021 7:30 AM, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/


I think that the future of non-car transportation (other
than for dense cities) is a combination of personal mobility
devices with a safety net of on-demand shuttles that
supplements a very few bus or light-rail lines.

When I was a local elected I had to deal with my county's
highly dysfunctional public transit system which has the
poorest fare recovery of any transit system in the U.S. (and
possibly the world)--we're #1
http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=289. My City ended up
starting up our own shuttle system because it was clear that
we would never be able to get adequate service from the
County system which is basically controlled by San Jose.

Electric personal mobility devices are the only hope of
getting more people out of their cars since they are faster
and more convenient than most public transit. I'd rather
spend $40 million to provide 40,000 electric bicycles than
to use it build one mile of a light rail system. If we can
subsidize electric cars with tax credits we can be doing the
same with electric bicycles.
Amazingly we see the problem similarly.

'Light rail' is only light on logic. Heavy on the taxpayer's
neck with small to nil benefit and a host of new problems
while the intended problems resist solution.

For 'fare recovery' nothing, and I state that categorically,
nothing beats the Milwaukee Trolley. That much reviled
boondoggle was imposed on the taxpayers like a weighted yoke
with a big fat zero for revenue.

That's not hyperbole. Revenues are zero.

They never planned, designed or installed any method to
collect fares.

https://empowerwisconsin.org/streetc...ed-boondoggle/

It's like an 'Idiocracy' parody of The Future.

The expenses of a publicly operated rail are absolutely unbelievable. Amtrak is 50 years old now and it has never once gotten anywhere close to turning a profit. In 2019 they lost only $817,000 I believe and they use other people's rails. Light rail trains in order to run fast have to be on their own rails and those rails have a VERY high maintenance cost.

Jay was telling us that high speed trains could run on normal rail gauges because that is what the Japanese do. But American engineers have said another thing altogether. They think that the real gauge for high speed trains should be two feet wider than the standard gauge. But I'm certain that Jay knows a great deal better.

They want wider a gauge because they want wider cars that sit more on the tracks and are less likely to tip over in a derailment at high speeds. BART has a 5'6" gauge if memory serves whereas a standard rail gauge is 4'8 1/2" So American engineers want more like 6 1/2' But you know those public rail transportation engineers they don't know a thing.

As for skidding on the tracks like BART does - all they need for high speed light rail is a differential. If the world's heaviest tank and trucks can use a differential why wouldn't high speed rail?

But why would ANYONE take a high speed light rail when they could fly in a third the time and a 10th the cost?

With some number of iterations on the Shinkansen all over
Japan for several years I can assure you that US standard
rail gauge is quite functional in a nicely engineered and
maintained system.
While Japanese high speed rail systems are relatively safe per passenger mile, I can assure you that they have quite a few crashes.
The problem with high speed train crashes is trying to keep on schedules when you have to deal with people moving on and off of a train causing delays. I suppose you could automate the system but then you'd have to throw out any real scheduling.


On the Shinkansen? Hardly.

Being a nuisance, holding up the line or any such thing is
'just not done'. Yes, it's a Japanese train system on
Japanese rail, but it's also filled with Japanese passengers.

Even years ago when I was stationed in Japan and rode the trains they
seemed to run on schedule. In fact they had train officials at the
stations to push passengers onto the trains rapidly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7kor5nHtZQ
or the Tokyo Subway
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/0...-of-japan.html


Each city's subway system, the JNR railroads and the
Shinkansen system are completely utterly different systems.


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Am 11.06.2021 um 23:23 schrieb Tom Kunich:
On Friday, June 11, 2021 at 1:05:54 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/11/2021 2:30 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 5:25:30 PM UTC-5, AMuzi wrote:
On 6/10/2021 4:22 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 10:12:32 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 7:30:58 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
https://ktla.com/morning-news/techno...ve-richontech/

After thinking about what Lou said I suppose that the modern generation is still young enough to think of electric bikes as a viable form of transportation. It won't take too many winters to change their minds about that but they will doubtless tough it out for a decade or two. Long enough to learn that man-made climate change was nothing more than another tool of the left to instill fear in the stupid people for mass control.

Once again Tom, you amaze us with your comments. I will restrain from making any direct remarks about them.

http://www.laalmanac.com/weather/we17.php
Above is a link to snow in Los Angeles. Andy's post above was about Los Angeles.

You wrote "I suppose that the modern generation is still young enough to think of electric bikes as a viable form of transportation. It won't take too many winters to change their minds about that but they will doubtless tough it out for a decade or two."

The above webpage on Los Angeles snow says the RECORD for one day and one month is from January 1932. 89 years ago. Once a lifetime event. 89 is well above the life expectancy in the USA. And they got a whopping 2 inches that day in 1932. Where I live and where Andy lives, bicyclists laugh at a measly pitiful pathetic 2 inches of snow. It takes 2 feet to be a real concern.

I've been to Los Angeles several times. March was the coldest month I visited. Brrrr. Went to Disneyland in shorts and t-shirt on that trip. Guessing shorts and t-shirts would have been appropriate for the entire winter season in Los Angeles.

On the above webpage for snow in Los Angeles they list all the snow events in downtown Los Angeles since 1918. Its snowed in 15 years from 1918 to 1962. Mostly trace amounts. But some were measurable. The table shown stops at 1962. I don't know if it has never ever snowed in downtown Los Angeles from 1962 to 2021, or the webpage just stopped the table at 1962. But if its the former, it has never ever snowed in downtown Los Angeles since 1962, then that would seem to support the factually supported theory that the earth is warming. Thus no snow in downtown Los Angeles for 59 years. Most likely due to man caused actions.

I've been to San Francisco a couple times about two decades ago. Summer time I think. So no winter experience with San Francisco. But I'm guessing winter in San Francisco area is very mild to say the lease. Cyclable on electric and regular bikes every day of the year. Supposedly you live in Oakland, on the other side of the Bay. Guessing winter weather in Oakland is the same as in San Francisco. Cyclable all winter long. You have yet to amaze us with your winter riding adventures in blizzards so I'm guessing it doesn't snow in San Francisco area.

So we have determined that there is no winter in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego. Yet you wrote "It won't take too many winters to change their minds."

in re Global Warming:

Today, 10 June, it's snowing at the west border of Montana,
5 inches expected (from a customer driving heavy machinery
transport).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/to...une/ar-AAKUAiI

carry on.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hoo...ht-2021-06-10/
https://news.yahoo.com/hoover-dam-re...100814715.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...ir-drought-low

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

"In total, water from Lake Mead serves 18 million people in Arizona, Nevada, and California and supplies the irrigation of over 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land."
Montana has 1.09 million residents total. Diminishing water from Hoover Dam serves 18 million people. 18 to 1 ratio there. Area of Montana is 147,040 square miles. 94 million acres. So Hoover only irrigates a mere 1.064% of the area of the state of Montana.
But another Google search says the following
"and the lands these waters drain are all part of the "Colorado River Basin." The rivers drain 242,000 square miles in the United States, or one-twelfth of the country's continental land."
So Hoover drains 1.6 times the area of the state of Montana.

Your comments above say the 5 inches of snow is on the western border of Montana. Going to the Sun road, pass, is over there. Famous bike route. But the whole state of Montana did not get 5 inches of snow. Just the Going to the Sun road got 5 inches of snow.

We don't disagree.

I received the report from a trucker going that way, I
shared it, noting 'western border of Montana'.

Don't look now but it is SUMMER

It might be SUMMER in California but it's quite normal that remote
mountain passes above 6,400 feet altitude will not be snow-free until
mid-July. I've had a freak blizzard in the Alps bringing 3 in of snow in
late July/early August at those altitudes once (and Glacier National
Park is one 48 latutude compared to the 46 latitude of the Alps).

Rolf