reasonable gasoline prices;

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Just so you can faint ...

In the UK unleaded petrol is $4.88 per gallon, diesel is more but we all went crazy for diesels. ( now we’re falling out of love due to emissions). As they returned a better MPG which we need when that’s the prices !

Think of the club card points tho !

Richard
 
Um, I think Elaine Chao was born in Taiwan, but

I agree with John. She/they are also maligned with big petroleum. It won't get done until someone can profit, or the need becomes desperate due to economic or lack of natural resources of present. Mismanagment is often a symptom of corruption by money. Example is our social security once had a surplus. Penn Central, NY Central, etc. were all broke, and became Amtrak, and Conrail. European countries do fine and they use their railroads for more than freight. Deutschebahn AG is a publicly traded corporation again, but before reunification was run by the Federal Republic govt. of West germany. France, Spain, Italy, etc. are all still state run, and not bankrupt. neither is British rail, nor the UK health ministry, because their politicians are for the people, and not their own greed and special interest lobbyists. Same in Japan, and their corporate CEO's as well. V.A.T. taxes, etc. Andrew Yang is fine with the US having that. He has conceded from the campaign though as of Monday. Not that he could get it passed anyhow, same as Sanders being able to get medicare for all passed if he became president. Same for Warren, etc. Nothing is ever free. A national health care fund has zero escrow and takes decades to build up equity, providing is doesn't get stolen by politicians. Big pharma, etc. don't want it, and neither does your 401k or stock portfolio, unless other entities become a profitable part of those as well. These programs must be blended slowly with existing systems while new jobs are made and filled to maintain them. then those jobs can provide tax revenue replacing lost tax revenue of displaced jobs in an economy.
The recovery of the last recession was jobless one, until after 2009, or 2010.
 
Eddie, the Fresno/Modesto link would be for all of the poor souls who are commuting into and out of the Bay Area every day via I-580 and the inadequate SR 152.  HSR would get them across this distance in a small fraction of the time it takes by car, crawling along in stop-and-go traffic for over 100 miles.  The only reason people opt to live in these outlying areas is because they can't afford the greater Bay Area, whether renting or buying.  HSR would give them a big chunk of their lives back.   Service workers are already in short supply in the Bay Area because they can't afford housing here.

 

I don't know if trying to operate HSR along the current Amtrack line between SF and LA would be any more feasible than the inland route.  I think that HSR could run at a much faster speed down the Big Valley with a straight shot between the SF and LA metro areas, and I imagine there would be serious opposition to the impact of HSR system upgrades from San Luis Obispo and on down the coast through Ventura.

 

It's primarily wealthy, fanatically right-wing anti-government farmers and ranchers who are against HSR's inland route, just for the sake of opposing the will of us common folk who are seeking commute relief and an alternative to flying.

 

 
 
Thanks for that Perspective Ralph

I didn’t think about this Fresno/Modesto HSR terminus in respect to the commuters that would benefit from it, my bad.  I agree that it would make good sense to at least build HSR to this end, with the promised intent to eventually extend it all the way to LA.  And, yes there could be problems with retro fitting the coast Amtrak line to accommodate HSR trains, but this may be possible with the right sales pitch to sell the idea.

 

No matter what, I believe that we must pursue mass transit and train service for the whole Bay Area and also a line from the Bay Area to LA, it will be money well spent in the long run.

 

We had better mass transit in Sonoma Co. and the Bay Area prior to the end of WWII than we do now.  

 

It was Standard Oil and GM that systematically dismantled the Key System Trains and the rest of the other rail transit thru out the Bay Area.  And in its place built all the highways that would require lots of Standard Oil gas to fuel the GM and other auto manufactures cars.  The rest is history.  

 

You’re probably too young to remember that the Bay Bridge lower deck was for two way bus and truck traffic only, with the Key System trains running along the sides of the roadway.  On the upper deck it was two way auto traffic only, no trucks or buses.  And the ferries still ran from Oakland to San Francisco until about 1958 as I recall. And the ferry ran from Richmond to Larkspur until the San Rafael Bridge opened in 1957.  I vividly recall my Dad driving the car onto the ferry when we went to the Russian River in the summer.  I always thought that this was quite an adventure.

 

Eddie
 
Eddie, you forgot the 3rd Musketeer -- Firestone.  Or was it Goodrich?  Those must have been some heady times in Ohio and Michigan.  This town lost all of its trolleys that cris-crossed the valley all the way up to the lower peninsula.  

 

Public transportation was far better in the '30s than anything running now.  They can't even get a lousy ten-mile extension of BART going due to glitches, setting a project that was built ahead of schedule way behind due to software problems and issues with electrical work.  Mismanagement is rampant at all levels of transit, and I'm 100% in favor of regionalizing things into one large agency instead of dozens of smaller ones that don't sync up or communicate.

 

You're right that I have no memory of the original configuration of the Bay Bridge, but I've read about it and seen old films and photos.  How civilized that was!  I knew the Key System had run trains over the bridge.  We could sure use something like that to supplement BART across the bay these days.

 

What goes around comes around.  They're building new ferry terminals and the fleets are increasing, as are the number of new operators.   Every little bit helps.

 
 
Yes,

Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Akron, not sure about Toledo, but they all had street cars until the 1950's. Cleveland and Pittsburgh are the only ones with light rail, or a bus way, and or subway. So they used to or still call Cleveland the mistake on the lake. Hardly. Pittsburgh was also planning a Mag-Lev. train in the 90's. It progressed to tje poimt where residents who'd have been displaced were offered prices for their homes, but no further.
 
Ive been driving since 1983. Ive always favored 60's-80's Mercedes diesels or Japanese diesel pick ups. Gas guzzlers never interested me. If it doesnt get at least 40MPG I wont own it unless its a classic car I dont drive much. My 2000 Golf TDI has been amazing all these years and if VW still imported them I would buy another in a heartbeat. Its got a quarter of a million miles on it and still delivers 50MPG and runs like a champ. My 1984 Mazda diesel truck gets 40MPG with 187k on it and breaks every several years its still so reliable. The truck has gotten impossible to find parts for on the rare occasion it breaks. My friend will be selling his 2007 Toyota Tacoma soon and I'll buy that and sell the Mazda. I may buy a 2014 Golf TDI and take mine off the road and restore it and keep it. I will never make oil companies rich with all the driving I do.
 
Here in Denver our prices don’t usually hit the same highs, as we have a local refinery that for decades has supplied the vast majority of our fuel here. Sadly we’ve gone from a moderate Democrat governor who was supportive of the petroleum industry here to a ‘progressive’ one who is trying to shut it all down.
 
I LIVE IN SACRAMENTO CALIFORNIA

That's why I bought myself a 2020 Kia Optima Hybrid, fully loaded. It gets approximately 49 miles to the gallon. I go weeks on a tank of gas. I don't drive everyday, and my weekly shopping is a few blocks away. I filled up about the 3rd week of January, and still have more than a 1/2 a tank. I love it. Its quiet, comfortable, and cheap to r un.
Hugs,
David
 

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