July 13, 200421 yr I am a big supporter of High Speed Rail in Florida, even if it is only to take tourists around because those will be tourists who don't get lost, get in accidents, or clog up our roads like they presently do. I also think the jobs created, the public-private partnership, and the ability to have naother transportation option can only be beneficial. Many Floridians agree with this, but do you? Post your opinions, comments and questions. I am a supporter of Governor Bush, but his attacks on this program will not go anywhere. We voted, just get it done! The Acela in the northeast is absolutely great and has high ridership, our state used to be train based, but that stopped in the 60's with the advent of the interstate. http://www.floridahighspeedrail.com/ http://www.floridabullettrain.com/ http://www.derailthebullettrain.com/
July 13, 200421 yr Author Economists put it at like $7.2 billion, but the state will only pay for some construction at $75 million a year for like 10-15 years. Private business will cover the rest.
July 13, 200421 yr Author I'm all for it as long as you limit how much the state (we) pay for it 456388[/snapback] If I remember correctly it is capped at whatever the Legislature is willing to pay. $75 million a year is the cap right now.
July 13, 200421 yr Author 2. The state's investment in high speed rail is capped at $75 million per year, regardless of the total cost of the system, under the plan of finance established for the Florida High Speed Rail Authority. The $75 million figure represents less than 1.5 percent of the state's $6 billion annual transportation budget. http://www.floridabullettrain.com/
July 13, 200421 yr Author Fluor, Bombardier, and Virgin (yes as in Virgin Airlines, Mobile, Music, and Group) are the companies working on this project.
July 13, 200421 yr Author ? Will the taxpayers have to subsidize operations? No. The contract between The Florida High Speed Rail Authority and The Fluor-Bombardier - Virgin Group Consortium will specifically state that the ridership is guaranteed by the Consortium and that no subsidies will be sought or authorized. http://www.floridabullettrain.com/modules....aq=yes&id_cat=2
July 13, 200421 yr Author Sounds like it can pump cash into our economy if it goes through. 456402[/snapback] 1. The pre-eminent high speed rail economist in Florida, Dr. Tim Lynch of Florida State University, recently testified before the very same state panel looking at the costs and benefits of high speed rail. Dr. Lynch reported that not only do the benefits of high speed rail far exceed the costs, but that there will be a significant economic cost of not building high speed rail. According to Dr. Lynch: "If Article X, Section 19, of the Constitution is repealed the loss of economic benefits by private sector businesses, the public and State of Florida will include 41,267 jobs, $11.7 billion in wages and salaries and $34.1 billion in additional economic activity and a $5.7 billion loss of other benefits." Dr. Lynch is the Director of the Center for Economic Analysis at Florida State University, and has been involved in studying the economics of high speed rail in Florida and around the world many years. He recently completed a "restudy" of several previous analyses, which he submitted to the EDR panel last month.
July 13, 200421 yr I support it, but it does sound pretty expensive. But ofcourse then it should be very profitable...so maybe the money will be maybe up with all the tourism & what not.
July 13, 200421 yr i voted no because its stupid as hell. i'm a huge proponent of useful mass transit, but this is a total waste of taxpayer dough. the costs outweigh the benefits. useful public transportation could do wonders in a place that needs it such as miami-dade county. this, however, is a retarded pipedream... the ramifications upon our tourism industry are SO overblown. look at that map. 90% of those tracks are places that tourists would never go...let them drive rental cars like everywhere else if they want to go to some random-ass place like fort myers, jacksonville, or pensacola. as far as traffic is concerned--there is zero traffic on the roads covering 95% of those tracks. its the stupidest, most idiotic thing ever. lobbyists get s*** like this onto the ballots and people vote for it cuz it sounds cool. actually, i'd say the stupidest thing ever is the class size initiative that passed, but thats the subject for another debate.
July 13, 200421 yr Author i voted no because its stupid as hell. i'm a huge proponent of useful mass transit, but this is a total waste of taxpayer dough. the costs outweigh the benefits. useful public transportation could do wonders in a place that needs it such as miami-dade county. this, however, is a retarded pipedream... the ramifications upon our tourism industry are SO overblown. look at that map. 90% of those tracks are places that tourists would never go...let them drive rental cars like everywhere else if they want to go to some random-ass place like fort myers, jacksonville, or pensacola. as far as traffic is concerned--there is zero traffic on the roads covering 95% of those tracks. its the stupidest, most idiotic thing ever. lobbyists get s*** like this onto the ballots and people vote for it cuz it sounds cool. actually, i'd say the stupidest thing ever is the class size initiative that passed, but thats the subject for another debate. 456459[/snapback] Like Fort Myers, Jacksonville, and Pensacola are so random. Tourists visit these 3 places more than Miami. If you actually read the plan, you would notice the first leg is Tampa to Orlando, then St. Pete to Tampa and Orlando to Miami. The eventual vision is to have the system mirror all the major highways in the state. Amtrak is working on restoring rail service in Florida to somewhat respectable levels, but the speed is not there...that is why this is being built.
July 13, 200421 yr 1. The pre-eminent high speed rail economist in Florida, Dr. Tim Lynch of Florida State University, recently testified before the very same state panel looking at the costs and benefits of high speed rail. 456404[/snapback] i'm sorry, but "pre-eminent high speed rail economist" is just another way to say "pre-eminent high speed rail proponent". Dr. Lynch reported that not only do the benefits of high speed rail far exceed the costs, but that there will be a significant economic cost of not building high speed rail. According to Dr. Lynch: "If Article X, Section 19, of the Constitution is repealed the loss of economic benefits by private sector businesses, the public and State of Florida will include 41,267 jobs, $11.7 billion in wages and salaries and $34.1 billion in additional economic activity and a $5.7 billion loss of other benefits." 456404[/snapback] either this guy is a complete nimrod or he just lacks all credibility. he gives zero fact to substantiate "the benefits of high speed rail far exceed the costs". those numbers on "lost" jobs, wages, and benefits are totally meaningless. i could spend $75 billion to create the worlds largest pizza and end up producing more jobs than that.
July 13, 200421 yr Author BTW, the stupidest thing was building MetroRail when nobody said the would use it and nobody uses it.
July 13, 200421 yr Like Fort Myers, Jacksonville, and Pensacola are so random. Tourists visit these 3 places more than Miami. 456464[/snapback] :lol :lol :lol :lol
July 13, 200421 yr BTW, the stupidest thing was building MetroRail when nobody said the would use it and nobody uses it. 456466[/snapback] you can't possibly think this would be put to more use than metrorail.
July 13, 200421 yr Author BTW, the stupidest thing was building MetroRail when nobody said the would use it and nobody uses it. 456466[/snapback] you can't possibly think this would be put to more use than metrorail. 456472[/snapback] Yes it would. All the people who come from Orlando International Airport or Tampa International Airport and drive on I-4 to Walt Disney World, or use shuttle buses, would use this and that guaranteed daily ridership exceeds what MetroRail gets in a day.
July 13, 200421 yr BTW, the stupidest thing was building MetroRail when nobody said the would use it and nobody uses it. 456466[/snapback] you can't possibly think this would be put to more use than metrorail. 456472[/snapback] Yes it would. All the people who come from Orlando International Airport or Tampa International Airport and drive on I-4 to Walt Disney World, or use shuttle buses, would use this and that guaranteed daily ridership exceeds what MetroRail gets in a day. 456475[/snapback] i dont even need to look up the figures to call you on that. no offense, but you need to stop making facts up. you do it constantly.
July 13, 200421 yr Author Ridership: Metrorail averages approximately 48,039 daily weekday boardings. Total for FY 2003 was 14,306,084. http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/transit/facts.asp Fluor-Bombardier-Virgin and Disney have given financial guarantees to ridership and costs. No public transit system can claim that kind of support.
July 13, 200421 yr Author http://www.floridabullettrain.com/content/plan.pdf Read the business plan from Fluor-Bombardier then.
July 13, 200421 yr Ridership: Metrorail averages approximately 48,039 daily weekday boardings. Total for FY 2003 was 14,306,084. http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/transit/facts.asp Fluor-Bombardier-Virgin and Disney have given financial guarantees to ridership and costs. No public transit system can claim that kind of support. 456480[/snapback] are you trying to imply taht over 48,000 people would ride the bullet train daily to disney world from those locations you mentioned?
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