News commentary

Brown’s Folly 0
- November 14, 2011
Jerry Brown didn’t think up the idea of a California high-speed rail line, but he endorsed it last week despite the estimated doubling of its price tag. Brown has recommended that the legislature release funds so construction can begin in 2012. “Lincoln built the transcontinental railroad during the Civil War, and we built the Golden […]
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Everybody Wants a Streetcar 0
- November 11, 2011
The streetcar craze is just insane. Los Angeles wants one; so does San Antonio. It was bad enough when cities all over the country were building light rail, an expensive, obsolete form of transportation that at least has the virtue of providing slightly better service than the local buses it usually replaced. But streetcars have […]
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Another Lying Transit Agency 0
- November 7, 2011
Tomorrow, Vancouver Washington voters will be asked to raise sales taxes in order to “preserve existing bus service.” Without the sales tax increase, says C-Tran, the transit agency, “C-TRAN would need to implement a system-wide service reduction of about 35 percent by early to mid 2013.” It turns out that is a lie. An accountant […]
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The Cost of Auto Accidents 0
- November 4, 2011
Auto fatalities dropped in 2010 below 33,000, less than in any year since 1949. But AAA has just published an alarming report arguing that the cost of auto crashes is $300 billion a year. Since Americans spend only about $900 billion per year (select table 2.5.5 and add lines 54, 57, and 116) buying, operating, […]
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Free Bus to Atlanta 0
- November 3, 2011
Megabus, which serves the Midwest and Northeast, is starting service in the South and to celebrate it is giving away 10,000 tickets to or from Atlanta and eleven other cities. Even if you don’t get a free ticket, when the Antiplanner checked there were still seats on many routes for $1 to $3. Megabus’ new […]
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High-Speed Fail, v. 2.0 0
- November 2, 2011
Ninety-eight point five billions dollars. That’s the new cost of California’s high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco, according to a business plan released yesterday by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. At least, that’s the cost reported (a half day in advance of the plan’s release) by the Los Angeles Times. The reason […]
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