Obamacars to Cost $6,714 More?
Motor Trend magazine reports that meeting President Obama’s fuel-economy standards for 2025 will cost consumers $6,714 more per car. This is based on a paper published by the Center for Automotive Research last June, when Obama’s standards were still in flux. There is some debate over this conclusion: a group called the International Council on […]
China Suspends New HSR
Railway Age reports that China’s Premier Wen Jiabao has suspended “approval of new railway projects” while it investigates the recent accident that killed at least 40 people. Jiabao also said that the country would “reduce the average speed of new high speed trains at their early stage of operation.” Another report indicates that the government […]
California HSR Already Over Projected Costs
The California High-Speed Rail Authority has finally admitted that its insanely expensive rail project will be even more insanely expensive than its official projections. The most recent cost estimates for the “train to nowhere”–the first link of the project from north of Bakersfield to south of Merced–are 40 to 96 percent higher (depending on the […]
Let the Gas Tax Expire
The Antiplanner has written several recent posts about Congressional reauthorization of transportation spending. But an even more imminent transportation reauthorization deadline is coming up: that for transportation revenue in the form of gas taxes. The law allowing such taxes is due to expire on September 30. Recalcitrant Republicans held airline ticket taxes hostage for several […]
Obama Undercuts Case for HSR and Rail Transit
President Obama has ordered the auto industry to make cars that average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. This is after his 2009 order directing the industry to make cars that average 34.5 miles per gallon by 2016. As a free-market advocate, I should be outraged that Obama is ordering private enterprise around like a […]
Bolt, Megabus Taking Passengers from Amtrak
More than a third of Bolt and Megabus riders in the Boston-to-Washington corridor say they would have taken an Amtrak train if the “new model” of bus service were not available. (The new model relies on curbside stops instead of stations, mainly non-stop service between cities instead of multiple stops between major cities, internet ticket […]
America 2050: Forget about the Forgotten Mode
Half truths, innuendo, and pseudo-science form the basis of a recent response to the Antiplanner’s recent paper, Intercity Buses: The Forgotten Mode. The basic thesis of the response is that intercity buses have a role to play in a “balanced transportation system,” but they are “no replacement for high-speed rail.” Of course, the Antiplanner never […]
Biketopia Is Mantopia
Cyclists want to spend millions of dollars out of highway user fees to build new bicycle infrastructure, including bike paths and lanes. But a recent survey by a bicycle advocacy group found that the most important reason women don’t bike is not lack of infrastructure, but because it is not convenient for them to do […]
Senate Bill DOA
Continue spending money at current levels that are far greater than revenues. Drain the Highway Trust Fund. Make a few token changes in the law to make it look like you are doing something. Then revisit all the issues in just two years because you are too chicken to make the hard decisions today. That’s […]
Henry J. Is Spinning in His Grave
To find everything that is wrong with American transportation, you only need to look at the process for replacing the Interstate 5 crossing of the Columbia River. Planning for a new bridge or bridges between Portland and Vancouver began at least six years ago, and planners have so far spent well over $130 million without […]
The China Mystique Breaks Down
At least 35 people killed in a Chinese high-speed rail crash–caused by lightning? This doesn’t make any sense at all. Electric rail technology is more than a hundred years old; how could China’s trains not be safeguarded against this common phenomenon? Plus, the second train ran into the first train simply because the first train […]
American Know-How: Get Less for More
Three years ago, Oregon politicians managed to get an earmark for an Oregon company to manufacture streetcars. Now it turns out those streetcars are–surprise!–more expensive than anticipated as well as delayed by at least five months. For the original price of six cars, the company will make just five. Not to worry, says company president […]
