Friday, July 02, 2004
Railigious at a Loss: Fume at Federal Reserve Board
Maybe if They Yell Loud Enough.....
It has been amusing to watch the discussion of the "railigious" in response to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board (FRB) critique of light rail. Some of the best comedy has been on the "Sustran" email list, where participants have engaged in the following fantasies.
One correspondent chalked up the whole article to an intent on the part of the authors to be "clever." We must recognize that the railigious and the smart growth sheep have a peculiar psychic ability. They frequently comment on the motives of those with whom they disagree, which I suppose is the last resort of people committed to an ideology that cannot be defended. This correspondent went on for paragraphs, never once providing any evidence against the positions taken by the Federal Reserve Board. A copy of this communication was sent to the FRB authors, who will doubtless respond by relying more on religious dogma and less on reason in the future.
Another correspondent had difficulty with the contention of the FRB that it would be cheaper to buy every low-income rider a Toyota Prius. The correspondent got confused by the FRB's financing the car over five years and thought that only a single car could be bought. He or she went on to point out that the life of the light rail vehicle would be perhaps 30 years. Learn to read. Bad as it sounds, FRB is telling us that we could buy a new Toyota Prius EVERY five years... we could junk the one we bought five years ago, even though it would still have substantial value. Yes, it's true. There's no getting away from it.
This type of criticism, whether a tactic or arising from outright ignorance has been frequently used. In fact, not a light rail system has been built in the United States where it would not have been cheaper to lease a new car for each new rider --- in perpetuity for the life of the light rail line Famous Jaguar Slide.
It is notable that we have challenged the public transit industry to propose a transit system that would provide automobile competitive transit service throughout a major modern North American or Western European urban area. Of course there have been no takers, because there is no transit system that can do the job.
But that doesn't keep the railigious from fuming and concocting their witches brew of unsustainable sustainability.
It has been amusing to watch the discussion of the "railigious" in response to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board (FRB) critique of light rail. Some of the best comedy has been on the "Sustran" email list, where participants have engaged in the following fantasies.
One correspondent chalked up the whole article to an intent on the part of the authors to be "clever." We must recognize that the railigious and the smart growth sheep have a peculiar psychic ability. They frequently comment on the motives of those with whom they disagree, which I suppose is the last resort of people committed to an ideology that cannot be defended. This correspondent went on for paragraphs, never once providing any evidence against the positions taken by the Federal Reserve Board. A copy of this communication was sent to the FRB authors, who will doubtless respond by relying more on religious dogma and less on reason in the future.
Another correspondent had difficulty with the contention of the FRB that it would be cheaper to buy every low-income rider a Toyota Prius. The correspondent got confused by the FRB's financing the car over five years and thought that only a single car could be bought. He or she went on to point out that the life of the light rail vehicle would be perhaps 30 years. Learn to read. Bad as it sounds, FRB is telling us that we could buy a new Toyota Prius EVERY five years... we could junk the one we bought five years ago, even though it would still have substantial value. Yes, it's true. There's no getting away from it.
This type of criticism, whether a tactic or arising from outright ignorance has been frequently used. In fact, not a light rail system has been built in the United States where it would not have been cheaper to lease a new car for each new rider --- in perpetuity for the life of the light rail line Famous Jaguar Slide.
It is notable that we have challenged the public transit industry to propose a transit system that would provide automobile competitive transit service throughout a major modern North American or Western European urban area. Of course there have been no takers, because there is no transit system that can do the job.
But that doesn't keep the railigious from fuming and concocting their witches brew of unsustainable sustainability.
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