California high-speed rail costs going up and projected ridership going down

Hotair ^ | 03/03/20 | John Sexton

[cgbg]

The biggest problem with traveling on the highway between Bakersfield and Merced is that on the relatively deserted highway you may get stopped for speeding!

[Elsie]

... costs going up and projected ridership going down...

It is ALWAYS this way!

[Seaplaner]

A freeway (I99) already connects the California vacation hotspots of Merced and Bakersfield, and the distance is a whopping 157 miles.

From an internet source: The quickest way to get from Bakersfield to Merced is to drive which costs $29 - $45 and takes 2h 42m.

Could the (cough, cough) high speed rail make up its billions of debt on this line?

First, trains are typically late. That's because they are trains, which generally run late.

Second, if someone in Merced wanted to get to Bakersfield really fast, the high speed rail involves a few more considerations. Ticketing and security and baggage, all major time takers.

Then, when in Bakersfield, unless someone had business at the rail station, there's car rental or taxi fare (and more waiting and more cost.)

Cost? Ha ha ha. It would need to be subsidized by the state, and still would be multiples of the $29-45 estimated range for car travel; and, if 2 or more traveled by the same car, the costs would be divided accordingly. Not so for train tickets.

As a once and former Citizen of Cali, with lots of liberal friends and fam and acquaintances, I've never once heard any of them say they actually want to ride on the bullet train. Not one.

Slower, less reliable, more expensive. The California High-speed Rail is Democrat duplicity and deceit on parade.

[ridesthemiles]

A reminder to all:

The contract for this boondoggle was granted to Richard Blum-—Diane Feinstein’s HUSBAND

[A Navy Vet]

This is the epitome of a State boondoggle. I voted NO on its passage. When it was discovered that the promised line from LA to Frisco had been shortened from Bakersfield to Merced, I just shook my head in wonderment why it wasn't shut down.

Like many say, we could be building reservoirs, dams, desalination plants, and other water conversation facilities. But no, Gavin insists on building this train from nowhere to nowhere. What the hell is in Merced? When is the last time anyone read the lines from LA to Bakersfield will be completed, or the lines from Merced will reach SF? Government failure at its best.

[Elsie]

That's because they are trains, which generally run late.

Not in pre-WWII Italy!