Giving Up the Ghost

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I'm tired of always being on the losing end of things and have decided to switch. I'm giving up being pro rail and deciding to go with the winners in the anti-transit movement. I've taken a long hard look at all the BS rail projects I've been advocating for over the last three years of this blog and decided that really they are too expensive and don't give the flexibility that buses give. In fact, building more rail is likely to cause greater gridlock.

I'm also thinking about leaving San Francisco and it's hatred of cars. Because of its lack of zoning, I can become a developer in Houston and make tons of money building anything anywhere I want, unless there is a deed restriction of course. I'll be sure and build lots of parking and hopefully I can meet up with my friend Robert Bruegmann who has converted me to the ways of doing things right.

And can we give up on this lefty fantasy for high speed rail already? I'm tired of having to fight off people that know so much more about HSR than the experts. Especially folks in Palo Alto. They really know thier stuff. Why can't we just let them have their way and be done with it. Besides, rail is a 19th century technology.

Finally, stop making me pay for other people's transit. We subsidize the hell out of public transit and in a free market world (the United States is the best place in the world because it has a completely unfettered market) it should pay for itself. This article says everything I want to say and more but just felt like I couldn't being a good liberal and all.

But maybe the taxpayers grew tired of subsidizing a failed government-run transit system. According to the March 29 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Metro system is bleeding money. It faces an operating deficit of $45 million in 2009 – expected to reach $50 million in 2010.

All transit is a failure. I'm just realizing this now but wish I would have just given in years ago. I want to be on the winning side for once. Let's stop building rail lines and start building more roads. And get those bikes and pedestrians off my street. It was designed for cars and should stay that way.

Anyways, if you believe that I would ever say any of the stuff above Happy April Fools. Hopefully you didn't get suckered again.

April Fools Roundup

Ok I promise tomorrow we'll get back to transit talk that is real, but before that happens, I have to share some of yesterdays pranks in the transit blogosphere:

MTA Proposes to Stop Night Subway Service - Second Ave Sagas
Coordinated Planning - Intermodality
Humor Review - Xing Columbus
Grumpy Ryan - The Bellows
Toyota to build non hybrid Prius - Portland Transport

Any I missed?

Mary Peters to Transfer Highway Funding to Transit

In an unprecedented move yesterday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters went before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and asked that all FY 2009 money be put towards transit expansion. "I'm not sure what we were thinking all these years." she stated before a shocked committee. "The auto is obsolete and transit is the way we must grow our transportation networks."

From the Oval Office President Bush said he approved of the move, hoping that states would appreciate the bold new approach his administration would take. "This funding would expand transit by 100 miles in every city in the United States, that means more jobs for our steel workers and more transportation options for everyone, allowing them to pocket 10% of their income a year instead of spending it on their car." Oh...and April Fools.