Nobody rides trains in America ?

Yea, tell that to the nearly half million who crowd aboard BART trains every single weekday or the quarter million on weekends. Indeed, ever take a small boy to the Giants via Muni - and then back again? Don't do it - he will be literally crushed to death on-board if you let him stand beside you. Then, you will be pick-pocketed by your crushed up against you neighbor. And you better hope that person is not a woman, who will claim you "touched her" (as if you could have had any choice about it) And then there's the BART ride, with easily a thousand riders per train, every two minutes. Not as bad as Muni, but you will stand for the first twenty five miles.. . . . . Naw - nobody rides the train in America !

Then of course, there are the several millions in in New York or Chicaco or Philly, or Washington or or or . . . . . Naw - nobody rides the train in America !

In 1970, not too long before Amtrak, I had the occasion to ride ATSF, LA to San Diego several times. Each time the train was way crowded, with standees in every car. The last such trip was a Sunday night - 19 coaches and still there were standees. . . . . . Naw - nobody rides the train in America !


Every time I have ridden Amtrak since (at least a hundred times), The train was crowded. I've ridden the San Joaquins many times with standees aboard. I've ridden the Zephers a dozen times - always sold out. At sixteen trains each way each day, Even the Capitals are often crowded. In 1978, we took a trip to Seattle - what a god-awful mess that conductor had on his hands - a near riot - 15 cars and too many people and still too few seats. It was 11 PM and at least 100 riders, all with reserved seats had no where to even sit, let alone sleep! . . . . . Naw - nobody rides the train in America !

Almost every year since the 1978 oil crisis, Amtrak ridership has increased over the previous year. The last few years, ridership levels have been exploding, despite the crappy unreliable service that Amtrak is noted for. Apparently, crappy unreliable train service is still better than driving, and Americans have obviously re-discovered that (assuming that they ever really did forget - which I doubt)

But Naw - nobody rides the train in America! Just ask any of the powers that be, how we just love the automobile; and how that somehow justifies the trillions that have been spent on highways. Never mind that Americans obviously also love trains (that's why they always fail to kill Amtrak), but somehow spending anything on trains is somehow not justified. It makes reason stare, until you realize that it is not so much a case of dumb and dumber, but rather of pure favoritism (to the auto and oil industries), bordering on corruption.

If you have any doubt that total corruption is rampant through and through - at every level of gov't and at almost every agency; I have worked for forty years in the rail industry (much of it with passenger rail) and have seen it all - every last sickening bit of it. And after that forty years is complete - I'm done! No more of it for me!

Just try to explain why congress set up the rules that govern publicly owned transportation the way they did - rules that force public agencies including Amtrak to pay up to ten to twenty times the private going rate for every mile of track and every loco they buy; not to mention passenger cars that cost more than private locomotives do.

Your choice is not between dumb and dumber. It is between Corrupt, and corrupter! Between those that sold out to the auto and oil industries (or any corporation for that matter); and those that give lip service to public ground transportation ,but all the while subvert it into costing ten to twenty times too much - thus severely handicapping it.

Still though, the real problem lies with the dumbed down voters (you know - the product of our useless education system), who cannot even tell the difference between lies and dammed lies; or dumb and dumber; or not even corrupt and corrupter. So NO! America does not particularly "deserve" a better train system. What it does deserve is the natural consequences of it own actions and choices. We will never even "deserve" the bread on our table, let alone better train service, unless we stop the madness at the polling booth. And good luck with seeing that anytime soon!