Monorail for city centers?

[hhsrat]

Seriously, imagine going from Orlando's airport to WDW via monorail! That's one thing that DL would NEVER get thanks to all of California's NIMBYs.

It'll never happen in FL either ... just ask our governor why he turned down 2.4 billion dollars in federal money dedicated to a high speed rail system that would connect Tampa with Orlando

[Whazzup]

It'll never happen in FL either ... just ask our governor why he turned down 2.4 billion dollars in federal money dedicated to a high speed rail system that would connect Tampa with Orlando

Do we know who ended up with that money yet? Or who will end up with it? Haven't seen anything in the news in the last day or two. What a loss for Orlando and Tampa.

[Shorty82]

Do we know who ended up with that money yet? Or who will end up with it? Haven't seen anything in the news in the last day or two. What a loss for Orlando and Tampa.

I believe I read something saying it'll be redistributed to states that want the money.

This a a loss for the entire state. It would have given a boost to the economy with all the jobs building, running, and maintaining the railway would have created.

[Goofyernmost]

I really haven't kept up with this event. What reason did he give for not wanting to take the money?

[GaTechGal]

I really haven't kept up with this event. What reason did he give for not wanting to take the money?

I believe that it mostly had to do with the fact the Florida would have been on the hook for too much money long after the project was completed. Think Amtrack folks. Not sure that the high speed train is the way to go here. Sometimes free projects from the Feds turn out like Free Kittens. You then have shots, spaying/neutering, food, the list goes on. All that "free" healthcare was going to have to be picked up by state dollars after a few years. Very tricky stuff. Sometimes its better to just say no. I'd rather see ideas like that come FROM a state rather than offered TO a state.

[Goofyernmost]

I believe that it mostly had to do with the fact the Florida would have been on the hook for too much money long after the project was completed. Think Amtrack folks. Not sure that the high speed train is the way to go here. Sometimes free projects from the Feds turn out like Free Kittens. You then have shots, spaying/neutering, food, the list goes on. All that "free" healthcare was going to have to be picked up by state dollars after a few years. Very tricky stuff. Sometimes its better to just say no. I'd rather see ideas like that come FROM a state rather than offered TO a state.

Well, if that's his reason...congrats to him. I'm sure those that are complaining about the lack of a high speed train will be the first in line to bitch about how much it cost to keep it going.

If it is such a great idea I would think that the private sector would be on this project. To run a high speed train for a couple of people is just dumb. If demand is high enough that it can support itself, that's another story. This country is not ready to give up it's cars yet.

[WEDFan]

If it is such a great idea I would think that the private sector would be on this project. To run a high speed train for a couple of people is just dumb. If demand is high enough that it can support itself, that's another story. This country is not ready to give up it's cars yet.

I have to admit that I know none of the real details for the high speed rail proposal, but, in general, we have a basic problem with alternate transportation funding that makes it very unlikely that the private sector will jump in. Any project based on motor vehicles has a huge advantage in the cost-benefit analysis. The infrastructure already exists and doesn't cost much of anything to use. Tax dollars have already been used to secure right of ways and build a myriad of roads. Mostly, tax dollars maintain the roads, too. Any alternate to cars has to overcome that before the private secotr will get interested. It's a tough call to make in the public sector, too. There are a lot of good things about various forms of rail, but they are expensive to build because of the infrastructure, and roads are way too convenient to have ridership in the alternatives go up quickly enough to really utilize it. The question becomes, at what point does that balance shift. We don't do a really good job of identifying all the costs associated with motor vehicles, so it's really hard to compare them financially.

[TeamUBR]

Do we know who ended up with that money yet?

I know Mo and IL have applied for high speed rail programs. The "public" reason in the media for FL turning down the money was the PC Tea Bag Party mantra about not feeling right about increasing the fed budget. I suspect the "back room" reason was the long term costs and useage projections. If that's real, it seems like sound reasoning based on info they currently have and hey, lets get some Tea Party cred with it. My only problem with that is the validity of the long term projections. Crystal ball guesses are almost always politically influenced.

j

[BRWombat]

What I'm waiting for next is when states turn down Federal money, maybe the Feds say, okay, then we don't need to spend it, and maybe, like... give it back to the taxpayers?

No, I am not on drugs.

[Lasolimu]

No, I am not on drugs.

Are you sure about that? Maybe not intentionally, but maybe someone drugged you? Do we need to do a random drug screening to be sure? :p: