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Virginia MagLev Project Back on Track
Raven42rac writes "After much delay, the $14 million Maglev train project is back on track at Old Dominion University in Virginia. All the petty lawsuits have been settled, and a much needed $2 million grant has been approved. Let us hope that this sets a precedent to Americans to not litigate ourselves out of the science and technology markets due to petty disagreements and greed. We do not need to be our own worst enemy. I, for one, would much rather ride a Maglev monorail with others, than drive a gas-guzzling car by myself. (And I apologise for the pun in the headline.)"
I'm glad the project is back on track again, but the 'petty lawsuits' were apparently contractors who weren't paid.
Hardly petty in my opinion - I'd be sueing if I wasn't paid for work I'd done.
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power, just because some watery tart threw a sword at you
It's debatable . . . I'm a business traveller and here in the US I have used the "trains" of several major cities to get from the airport to, say a downtown area or to other suburbs of the metro area. MARTA in Atlanta is great. A lot of business folks there live on the north side of the Perimeter but the airport is south of the city. Trying to get to the airport during rush hour is Russian roulette down I-85, but with MARTA you WILL make it in 45 minutes . . . just pay your 1.50 and read your book.
I've had similar experiences with the "L" in Chicago going from Midway airport to downtown. No rental car to pick up, park, fuel, or pay for, and like MARTA, there's a station downtown on every corner as well as one attached directly to the airport -- very cool.
IMHO, Baltimore's light rail sucks, unfortunately. It's more like electric streetcars on rails than a real train. For some reason, it's about twice as slow as any other metro rail system I've ever been on, and a bit more confusing to use if you've got to transfer to get to the way north suburbs.
The bottom line is that as a business traveler with a tight schedule, it's usually a lot easier to use the train to get close, and then walk or cab to your final destination. BTW, the key with all of these urban trains is don't take them by yourself after dark. Most go through sketchy neighborhoods and you will be panhandled and otherwise bothered at the very least.
I've always found it interesting that in the US (with the possible exception of major cities) adults are almost always expected to have a car. The are many explanations for this phenomenon, e.g. lower population density, individualism, suburban sprawl, low gas prices, major urban development after the introduction of the car, bad public transportation. But for many explanations, it's not really clear what is the cause and what is the effect. There are of course positive (freedom, independence of time tables) and negative sides (environment, dependence on oil, health/obesity) to having cars for everyone.. But it's an interesting difference between the US and many (most?) other countries in the world.
I remember reading an article very recently in a newspaper about how Maglevs might actually produce much more noise than a standard train...just a point...
as long as your taxes return to you as benefits (like it seems to happen there), fine.
;-)
Here we have very high taxes, very high tax-evasion (of course), very-high stealing of public (haha) money, and almost ZERO returns to us as benefits... Makes you feel a clown when you pay taxes here. (Brazil)
(and don't bother replying that noone cares about what happens in third-world shitholes, we all know that noone cares... let me rant in peace, will ya?
cheers
``If a program can't rewrite its own code, what good is it?'' - Mel
I know. I live in Sweden and I belong to the "high income" citizens who pay extra taxes.
On the other hand, I get quite a lot for that money.
(I'm neo-liberal myself, so I have issues with a lot of things in Sweden. Compared to certain other countries it's a lot better though)
it's in my head
Surely all citizens of democracies can go where they want? What relevance has this got?
I don't understand the relevance of the size of the country. Wouldn't people fly if they were travelling a very long distance?
I'm from the UK and this is also true in the UK. I'm pretty certain it's true in Germany and France, and I suspect most EU countries too. I don't understand how that addresses why Americans are so keen on cars.
This is clearly relevant, but doesn't address the cause-and-effect question.
I don't understand that at all.
I'm not posting this to be awkward, I really am interested in how the situation in the USA got to be how it is.
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
"For example, yet another lawsuit against the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant (what is this the tenth, twentieth, thirtieth?)."
Quote of the day:
"On Monday [when this was written], an earthquake shook the foundations of Diablo Canyon nuclear power station in California. This plant, if it had been built as originally planned, would likely have failed on Monday, likely contaminating hundreds of miles of pacific coastline with deadly radiation.
Thank God the environmentallist wackos were there, in the 1970's, to halt construction on this plant, and force PG&E to redesign the plant so that it could withstand a 7.0 direct on it's location."
I lived over 15 years in atlanta metro, rode MARTA quite a bit,it has plusses and minuses. You've pointed out a plus, but there are minuses too (last I was riding it). Such as non 24 hour service (example, the state says don't drink and drive, yet bars are allowed to stay open past when MARTA is running). That also discriminates against tax payers and citizens who do business in off hours, night shift workers, etc, and makes it impossible for a lot of people to use it even if they wanted to. And here's another critical minus, it's subsidised severely by people outside MARTA'sservice area who will almost *never* use it, and it's a big part of the cost of running it. MARTA's fares are around one dollar *under* true costs. If they were funded fairly upfront and then have the users pay for it at the true rates it would be a... err "more fair fare".
..eliminate congestion! Stop creating the artificial need for more people being forced to travel into and through major urban areas. We are atthe point in time with technology and business that the "need" for over centralised choke points in commerce and government is being propped up out of a state of inertia mostly. The never ending construction on atlanta metros roads for example, tends to nullify any improvements because there's always some place that is a bottleneck. People moved to the suburbs to get away from the downtown area, it's time to really take the next stepand de centralise the urban areas. Eliminate the so called "need to travel" and you won't need as much "urban transit" schemes like expensive train systems and more roads. And just "getting to hartsfield" is nuts, they quite simply built the airport on the wrong side of town, they KNEW that in advance, the bulk of the traffic that uses hartsfield comes from the north side, and they knew that way back when, but it was a political decsion to put in on the southside, for some obvious reasons given the nature of atlanta politics. That created a severe artifical "congestion" in traffic patterns that didn't need to happen in the first place, but then they needed the "solution" of more rail and roads. Government is responsible for helping to create a problem that they then used as an excuse for 'the solution". It's cuckoo, Heglian, and obvious.
I say it would be a lot more cost effective if they really tried to get universal broadband out to everyone using these tax payers funds, rather than further insisiting on over crowding the cities, either from cars or mass transit of people. the way to eliminate congestion is to
I've always been "pro car" but when I was working at the Pentagon I came across the most social form of public transportation I've encountered, SLUGGING.
The I-95 corridor from Quantico to DC has two HOV-3 lanes. Very few people actually use these lanes (a waste IMO) because it is hard to find friends that are willing to carpool with you.
Then, a long while back, people started parking their cars at the commuter lots and literally hitching a ride with total strangers up HOV lanes to DC.
By the time I started Slugging, it had evolved into it's own little system without any government influence. I would go to Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge, VA and park at their commuter lot. I had a choice of getting a ride to 14th street in DC (next to a train station) or I could go directly to the Pentagon (which also has a train station). Everyone would patiently stand in line and wait for the next car to give them a ride.
Slugging lines became a community. People that broke in line (whether they be in cars or on foot) were scorned by the group. Everyone pretty much got along great. From my time there, I never heard of any crimes committed when slugging. I also got to know a lot of the people who were riding. Some of us became fast friends. It was also a good opportunity to network with others.
There were some basic rules for slugging that everyone stood by. For one, the driver couldn't charge you. That was against the law anyways. Secondly, any driver could refuse to pick you up, though I never saw this happen. Riders could also refuse to ride with any driver. That made sense because some of those cars were crap.
There were many funny stories I could tell during my two years of slugging. I can honestly say that I'd do it again. It really was a fine example of simply living and getting along with your fellow human being.
If you live in the DC area, you can find out more by visiting http://www.slug-lines.com/ They even have a lost and found if you leave something in your drivers car. I actually had the chance to return a guys laptop that he left in my car. We are still friends today.
IMO, this is just one more fine example of how good man CAN be.
cheers
There is nothing inherently safe about liberty. That's why so many people died protecting it.
In France where I used to live, crime is high in the suburbs. Living in the city is for the upper middle class.
(well, of course there are some rundown popular areas downtown, and a couple upper middle class suburbs, but you get the picture).
Yes, real estate is more expensive downtown than in suburbia, BUT living next to every theater / museum / school / park / night-club you'll ever need, or going to work without having to get into the damn car every time definitely is worth the premium.
Granted, it is an expensive luxury to live in the city, and many lower middle class families were forced out by rising real estate prices. Yet the reason the upper middle class is still there is that it's so much more convenient to live in the city. I for one cannot even imagine not living there.
And you know what? Maybe the fact that you're never more than 5 minutes away from the underground is the key. Right now I'm living in Stuttgart, Germany, a city of 700,000, and they've got over 20 underground / light rail lines. Even in this relatively small city I know I can be in any other city area within 20 minutes, only through public transportation. In a much larger city such as Paris, one is never more than 30 minutes away from any other city area (unless you're living in a galaxy far, far away).
Because city planners did their job right, a car is not needed. (ok I've still got to rent a van whenever I've got to move bulky stuff around but other than that...)
Higher taxes? Maybe. But I'm actually saving money since I don't need a car.
As an outer New York City resident , I've been riding the bus, subway, and railroads for ten years now. First to get to school, then to my job. Recently I got a car, and I've reached an epiphany.
There is no toll bridge or road that I won't cross, no traffic jam that I won't bear, no gas tax that I won't accept, and no garaging fee that I will not pay so that I never have to take public transportation ever again.
In my car I control the comfort level, the climate, the music or radio that is played (or not played), the passengers that are picked up, the route that is chosen, the speed that is used, the stops along the way.
Gone are the class-loads of students who get on, headphones on full blast, who still try to have a conversation so they need to shout to hear each other. Gone are the old people who could do an entire day of shopping at a department store and carry their bags onto the train, but still demand that you give up your seat because they're too weak to stand. Gone are the pan-handlers who run a gimmick hoping for some spare change.
Hello liberating highways, drive-throughs, beautiful bridges, awe-inspiring tunnels, sprawling landscapes, incredible cityscapes, and the world flying by on fast-forward.
Hello, great America. I want to drive you just thinking about you. And I'll pick up a caramel Macchiato along the way.
Fuck public transportation.
I do, and so do many others. They have an economy driven by needless construction, a government driven by bribery based on fixing construction projects, and a civil service who can retire into lucrative jobs provided by ... construction companies.
Japan spends about 9% of GDP on public works, compared with about 1% in the US. This is why nearly every single river and stream has been straightened and concreted. With about 99% of natural waterways now artificial, a lucrative business is emerging based around returning them to a pre-concreted state.
Japan Rail is an astonishingly impressive company, especially for those who know rail services in countries like Britain, where the infrastructure is breaking, warping, rotting and crumbling, and the trains don't run on time, or often at all. But we shouldn't forget the trillions of yen poured into the service before privatisation, and the fact that the government wrote off the debt several times
In fact, I think this is probably the right course for a government to take, but you shouldn't ascribe it to a can do attitude in Japan. There is no such thing, except when it comes to politicians and public servants conspiring with construction companies to gouge the public and line their own pockets.
This may be a bit naive on my part, but I'd say it's more fear and a lack of trust than anything else. I know managers who fear that Johnny Employee won't be productive if there's nobody looking over his shoulder or monitoring his web access. They don't understand what he does, but they feel better knowing that they can see him working busily in his cubicle or in the shop. No, they may not actually be able to tell if he's really working, but at least they aren't as worried that he's "getting away" with something.
I think the picture you paint is a little bleak and hyperbolic. Yes, there are executives that have the attitudes you describe, but I don't think it's fair to paint the majority that way. There are many who work just as hard as everybody else, and I've been fortunate enough to work with some who appreciate the fact that you can get a lot more work done if you trust people enough to let them do their job (whether it's at home or in an office).
[b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
Similar maglevs have been built. Birmingham Airport had one from the mid 1980s to 1995. It was too hard to maintain, and was replaced with a cable-driven system.
Even as a pork program, the Old Dominion University system sucks. Better taxpayer-supported overpriced transit systems have been built at Southern universities. The Morgantown, West Virginia Group Rapid Transit System is a futuristic system started during the Nixon administration and opened in 1975. It's automated, with 3.6 miles of line, five stations, and little eight-person cars. It's an advanced system; all stations are "offline", and cars pull off the main line to stop at stations, rather than blocking the main tracks. It actually works, but it's way overbuilt for the usage it gets.