Ridership -- High speed rail's impossible goal

Today's Daily Post uses a UC Berkeley engineering study to highlight the challenge that has been circulating among concerned citizens on the Peninsula for some time--namely, where are all the passengers going to come from?

The Post paraphrases Prof. Mark Hansen as saying that

"even if high-speed rail attracted everyone who drove and flew between the Los Angeles Basin and the Bay Area during the year 2007, it would amount to only eight million passengers per year--no where near the numbers projected by the California High-speed Rail Authority."

It goes on to note that Prof. Hansen said

"high-speed rail would be extremely unlikely to capture most current air travelers due to the lack of transportation connectivity in most California cities and regions."

A Berkeley environmental professor, Arpad Horvath's presentation reported that

"unless ridership is very high, rail cannot perform better than than air travel.  To compare the carbon footprint of rail with air or driving, far more than just tailpipe emissions must be taken into account."

The new business plan is due to be published in mid-December.

Comments

[Holy Roller]

Please review the issues that come with Mass Transportation recently..
BART-enough said.
Cal Train - Golden Gate Bridge-enough said.
High Speed Rail- Drugs, illegal immigration, (please review the City of San Dieago mass transit crime rate), then consider why you may feel High Speed Rail from the US border, to the San Francisco Bay Area is nessesary.