High-speed rail is the lover we dream about but can never, should never, have. So elusive, so romantic, so ingrained in us.
Its time to wake up, people. Time to let it go.
The cost of building a high-speed rail network anywhere in America today and that includes Florida far outstrips the benefits we hope to gain.
Even with the $8 billion President Barack Obama dedicated to it in his stimulus package, and the $1.2 billion Congress chipped in later, high-speed rail however pretty to look at is an ugly disappointment.
The thousands of jobs its supposed to bring? Dribbled out over a vast landscape in this vast country, and over a period of 25 or more years if were lucky. Where are they? Show me even one.
Economists and scholars and urban planners see past the sex appeal and so should we.
One of them, Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, has studied the supposed environmental benefits, guided by the carbon-emission data used by environmental advocates. According to a Time magazine article, Glaeser pegs the annual environmental benefit for a 240-mile high-speed rail line that attracts 1.5 million riders at $4.2 million, a paltry return given the billions it would cost to build.
Scholar and economist Randal OToole of the Cato Institute showed us that the French and Japanese ride their bullet trains less than 400 miles a year on average. OToole estimates an American high-speed-rail network would take no more than 3.5 percent of this nations cars off the road.
Urban planner Wendell Cox explains that high-speed rail systems don't save time or money for commuters. Read Alex Tiegen's story on this page ("Optimistic High-Speed Rail Benefits Assailed").
"It takes time for commuters to get to stations, purchase tickets, and wait for trains," Cox points out in the story. "When compared to travel by car, trains do not save time ... What's more, commuters often use cars to get to and from a station ..."
So, let's look at it: We build a multibillion-dollar rail system that doesnt stimulate the economy by providing jobs right now, doesn't save riders time or money and doesnt take cars off the road.
That's not all. When our zippy train network is up and running, we taxpayers will end up subsidizing it.
How do I know? Because Amtrak regularly faces a $1 billion gap between revenues and expenses, including depreciation. It carries 29 million passengers a year and the per-trip subsidy tops $30.
If we want to put money into rail transportation -- especially in Florida -- lets put it where people use it: in our urban centers and along our heavily populated coasts. Never mind bullet trains. Just passenger trains. Passenger trains that link coastal towns up and down the length of the Sunshine State. Thats where congestion problems are the most severe. We may still wind up subsidizing the service, but it's where funding makes the most (common) sense.
Not that common sense is ever in play when youre in love.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 583-1823.
