Cox & Litman V5

[Eric Bruun]

I have enjoyed following the discussion between Todd and Wendell
so far. Maybe some clipping is in order to get below the 500 line
limitation so we can see the continuation directly instead of
being steered elsewhere. 

I have a comment myself since Wendell brought up Seattle:

As a Seattle native, I am absolutely appalled at the traffic
situation there. Its the first thing I hear from others who go
back to visit as well: "My god, the traffic is bad" or something 
similar. 

Wendell is really good at criticizing the plan to build one rail line. I
would like to know what he suggests instead for a city with a downtown
workforce of 140,000 people and few available transportation corridors.
The freeway through downtown is already 13 lanes wide. And what about
those of us who don't want to be forced to drive or the 30 percent of the
population who don't have driver's licenses?

The cost of building rail is also highly exaggerated. I think I 
mentioned in a previous mailing that the Puget Sound Regional Council
found that less than 10 percent of all transportation spending in
the region is public. Even a multi-billion dollar investment over
10 years will only change total annual spending by a tiny fraction. The
newspapers and official plan said that the tax scheme to finance the
expanded rail/bus network would raise the annual household taxes less 
than $200 per year. But tens of thousands of households might be able to
save the cost of owning a second or third car, roughly $5000 per year, if
transit services were better. Even one rail line, if it is part of a
scheme to redesign the network for timed-transfer operation, could be a
major boon to part of the region.

Finally, why does everything have to focus on the money? If the public
wants to do something about improving their quality of life, why shouldn't
they be able to do so? The US is supposed to be a democracy, after all.
I have to pay for pro-sports stadiums I won't attend. I am really angry
about it, as is much of the public, but we have been told to go and
<expletive deleted> ourselves. Therefore, I don't think it is unreasonable
for non-users to have to pay for some public transportation they don't
want to use.