Who carries your groceries?
My wife and I both had cars pretty much continuously from the time we went away to college. Neither of my kids – now 29 and 26 – has ever owned a car, and neither has any plans to own one. They both have driver’s licenses and occasionally use Zipcar. Also Uber, cabs, trains, and lots of buses and subways.
Granted, they don’t live in Fresno.
Barrons- I own a car and drive it to the grocery store. The people who live across the street from me (dual career couple) own one car which they do not use to commute. They get a Peapod delivery once a week for their main grocery shopping, and walk to the medium sized grocery store three blocks away if they run out of milk or teabags.
They recently moved from an inner-city neighborhood where they NEVER owned a car, so they are still using their urban “get it delivered” mindset! I am envious of their organizational skills as I seem to spend most of my free time in the grocery store! (they use lists- imagine that!)
Light rail in many areas is a white elephant. The HSR project that takes 3 times as long and cost 4 times as much as a Southwest Airlines from San Jose to LAX flight will be yet another.
The byword for German HSR, back when they put it into place, was (translated) “twice as fast as the automobile, half as fast as the airplane”. Why so many opponents of HSR in this country are disturbed that it isn’t precisely as fast as an airplane,* I don’t understand.
- Though when you factor in security checks, depending on the airport…
And u have to factor transport to and from the airport.
There will be transport to and from the HSR station. Also, the Chunnel train requires going through security. Not all trains are security-free.
Name another rail line besides the Chunnel train that has security screening.
This conversation proves why American public universities – like public transportation systems – are in trouble. Because there’s a portion of the population that doesn’t believe in investing in the future. Sadly, many of those twits end up in state legislatures.
Just because someone thinks this HSR is not worth the multi-billion dollar investment, doesn’t mean they are a bunch of Luddites. It’s simply a question of funding priorities.
Indeed it is.
@barrons, when I lived in a city and did not own a car, I lived walking distance from three different grocery stores. I - and many others in my neighborhood - had one of those carts you pull behind you.
It’s also possible to take these on a bus or subway. They’re also easy to pull up stairs.
Most people in most dense urban areas are a quick walk from the grocery.
@katliamom - respectfully, I think it is entirely reasonable for citizens in a democracy to use their liberal arts educations to question their leaders (instead of being “docile, skilled workers” 
). In particular, when they’ve been repeatedly lied to about the budget for HSR (by tens of billions of dollars, no less !) and about the benefits that will be provided, I think they are entitled to ask questions and express their opinions.
I would suggest the following exercise. Take the annual expenditures for the $67,000,000,000 HSR project and then divide it by the 188,000 undergraduate students that the University of California serves. I don’t really have the time to do the calculation properly myself, but I think you’re going to find that the money would be sufficient to lower annual tuition by $10,000-$15,000 each year from now to the end of time, and this tuition cut could even be increased for inflation. Given the magnitude of the numbers here, I think there are legitimate questions about the tradeoffs.
P.S. I don’t live in California, but isn’t the $67,000,000,000 figure just for one part of the HSR project that connects two thinly populated areas? I guess California must be very fortunate to be so rich.
Somehow other nations manage to have first-rate mass transit that’s a century ahead of ours, the richest country in the world, and at the same time offer their citizens affordable university education AND (imagine!) even healthcare.
Are you really saying we’re incapable of doing the same? Or doing at least ONE of the three? Whether or not the CA rail system is a good idea or not, there is an enormous amount of nay-saying about ANY kind of massive investment in this nation.
And we’re all the poorer for it. Our roads are poorer for it, our communication system is the poorer for it, and yes, our schools are poorer for it.
I despise mass transit systems. There is nothing worse then sitting on a cramped bus/subway next to random people, having little control over my destination. No thank you…
I will gladly pay more to drive my own car!
@fractalmstr, do you drive to commute? I hate having to drive to commute.
In general, I believe that this country is neglecting to invest in its infrastructure (unforgivable with borrowing costs so low), but there are only 2 profitable HSR lines in the world: Tokyo-Osaka and Paris-Lyon.
Granted, HSR does have positive externalities (as China is experiencing), but one to connect LA and SF (with very little in between) probably isn’t the best project. One that runs from Boston to DC (NYC and Philly in between) would likely be profitable, but good luck trying to get all those states to work together.
I do drive to commute. My commute is 5 minutes, in heavy traffic!
(most of the time I bike to work actually…)
I will caveat my last post by stating I live in California, and in a rural area, so having a car here is far more practical. The point I was trying to make though was that mass transit doesn’t work for everyone, nor does everyone desire to take mass transit.
@fractalmstr, yep, public transit works best in or connecting dense areas (where it beats sitting in traffic on an Interstate).
I drive 25-30 minutes to work but my husband’s commute was over an hour for many years. Things are very spread out here.
I have been to those little neighborhood grocery stores in big cities. Fine if you want to pay $7 for an old box of Cheerios. I enjoy my 60K SF store with fresh food–good values.
The only thing wrong with public transit–anyone can use it. I rode the bus for a couple years. EL too. No thanks–only when traffic is horrible.