“Our highways are clogged with traffic, are costing us $80 billion a year in lost productivity and wasted fuel. Our airports are choked with increased loads…What we need, then, is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st Century, a system that reduces travel times and increases mobility. A system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity. A system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.”
These high-minded words came from President Obama last April. Bemoaning the state of American infrastructure, he promised a new way to travel – high-speed rail. No more waiting in traffic, he said. He even promised that you won’t have to take off your shoes before boarding the train.
Obama’s modest $13 billion stimulus proposal for rail included only one true high-speed line – the one between Los Angeles and San Francisco. This is the same line that California voters approved in a 2008 referendum after they were subjected to a campaign of lies by high-speed rail fanatics and corporate profiteers.
By lying – promising unrealistically low costs, ludicrous ridership numbers, absurdly low ticket prices – advocates barely convinced the residents of the nation’s most indebted state to borrow an additional $9 billion for their high-speed rail line. The Monorail Man did his magic in California by lying. The bond issue passed, 53 to 47 percent.
As in Bart Simpson’s Springfield, the train is now coming off the rails – in this case, with the release of the state rail authority’s latest business plan.
The estimated cost the high-speed rail system has suddenly risen by 25 percent, to almost $43 billion. (It will likely rise again.)
Because of higher costs, the projected price for a one-way train ticket has suddenly doubled, from $55 to $105. (This, too, will rise again.)
Given that round-trip airfare from LA to SF is only $120 on Travelocity, it is no surprise that the Rail Authority also had to scale back its ridership expectations by nearly one-third, to 40 million annual passengers by 2030. Even this number is insanely, ridiculously high.
Never mind Berkeley Engineering professor Mark Hansen’s estimate that only 8 million road and plane trips were taken between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2007. California’s entire population, today at 37 million, will be only 46.4 million in 2030, according to U.S. Census projections.
Just one more fun fact: Today, the Rail Authority is holding its monthly meeting, which will include discussion of hiring a new executive director. His or her salary will range between $250,000 and $375,000 per year. Now, don’t mock — the high salary reflects the fact that it’s hard to find and retain competent liars.
Early last month, Obama committed the federal taxpayer to this ill-fated project. He promised to throw $2.25 billion of his promised rail stimulus money at this terrible plan.
The great irony is that even as Obama and gullible voters commit billions to new rail projects, their European role models in rail travel are choosing to become more like us. Despite massive government subsidies for rail, its share of passenger travel in Europe has declined by more than 20 percent since 1980. Intra-European air travel has more than tripled. Automotive travel there has increased, despite prohibitively high taxes on gasoline.
The European experience also foreshadows the failure of Obama’s promise of less congested roads. In a 2008 report on high-speed rail, expert Randal O’Toole quotes a European MP stating that “not a single high-speed track in Europe has had any perceptible impact on road traffic.” So much for reducing emissions, and so much for un-clogging roads.
Poor California, a state already known for paying its bills with IOUs, will serve as a warning for the rest of us. Just be grateful that President Obama isn’t throwing even more of your money away on this high-speed lie.
Examiner columnist David Freddoso is online opinion editor. He can be reached at [email protected].
