[sustran] Re: Bus, LRT, and heavy rail - comments from a by-stander

[Jonathan E. D. Richmond]

Gina Manzo wrote:

It reminds me of boys
and their need to be "king of the hill", the need to strive for the
superlative - in sport, warfare, in the professional field, etc.  Perhaps
everyone needs to go out for a good joust or round of football/soccer.


Alas, Gina, there is indeed a risk of the arguments appearing this way,
but with such a characterization it appears that both sides are in an
advocacy position and neither one nor the other has a special claim on the
truth.

Pro-rail forces have distorted data, sometimes because their advocacy has
simply led them to take the most positive assumptions, but also sometimes
through outright dishonesty. The performance results in the US are quite
clear, as I found in a comprehensive study that set out to be entirely
objective.

Unfortunately, there are rail opponents who are against public transport
in general. Some of them favor more roadbuilding; others are against any
form of public expenditure on transport systems. The presence of their
arguments clouds the issues and does indeed make it all appear like a
football (or possibly boxing) match, and it becomes extremely hard for
people like myself who care about providing good value transport systems
-- especially to serve the poorest members of society -- to get the truth
through.

                                                  --Jonathan


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