Increasing Public Transportation - Give Us High Speed Rail

People may fear the runaway train, especially the overhead-electric or electromagnetic high speed rail system. How will the engineers ever get it to stop? Turn off the magnets or reverse polarity. Turn off the electricity. That's simplistic, but cutting the power or reversing polarity slows and stops the train, hopefully on a pinpoint and not after a similar deisel runaway has done a lot of damage and caused many deaths.

For a real-life runaway train story from northern Ohio, make sure to see Unstoppable with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The original engineer and conductor consulted on the filming and while the movie adds some exaggeration and drama for entertainment, the railroad men feel it is true to facts otherwise. Northwestern Ohio's Engineer Jess Knowlton and Conductor Terry Forson are credited with saving 1000s of lives in the 2001 Crazy Eights railroading incident,

I am anxiously waiting the advent of high speed rail ever since I heard the plans for a coast-to-coast underground bullet train that can travel from NYC to Northern California in 3 hours via an electromagnetic rail system. That was in the 1990s and I hope to see it before 2050.

While I have never ridden on a steam-driven or deisel passenger train, I have ridden on monorails.My first experience was on a Detroit monorail from a hotel to the downtown mall, before the People Mover was built completely around the inner Downtown Detroit, Michigan area. My second was on a monorail at the Ohio State Fair Department of Transporation exhibit that promised monorail transportation to increase in the state. In 2010, I cannot find a monorail in Ohio, but will keep looking. If you know of one, please post it in comments and I'll go have a look. I've ridden the People Mover in Detroit several times and while it makes some creaky noises, it's efficient and fun to ride over the Detroit River, offering artistic works at each stop. There are stops at all major attractions - libraries, shopping, arenas, the river recreation and picnic area, the Renn Center, and many others. You might see some of them on TV's Detroit 187. 

Some Russian subways are verItable museums of fine arts and the Detroit People Mover monorail is a small version of this. One of the PM stops is located right across the stree from the mass transit bus terminal downtown, so mass transporation options are good in Detroit. The Greyuhound Bus station is just a few blocks from the nearest PM stop and the city bus terminal, but is no longer open 24 hours a day. Still, that makes three mass transit options within 6 blocks.   

Monorails are running via electricity and/or electromagnetic energies and elevators are following this engineering development. This was shown recently on Public Broadcasting documentaries. Electromagnetic elevators are useful, have fewer moving parts than mechanical-electrical units, and can reach the heights of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. They are quiet, apparently safe, and can use alternative energy sources for electricity. Thus, we can travel cross crounty or into the sky with electromagnets.  

Because of the transportation problems our Welfare to Work and SSI clients in Columbus OH experienced from 1998 - 2008, City, County, and Business partnerships offered transporation to those that accepted jobs and were dedicating to keeping them.

Some partnerships offered discounted monthly bus passes with taxi service included at the end of the line for the last few miles to work. Other partnerships offered dedicated vanpooling to and from work, specifically for these individuals wanting to work. Some of these programs allowed citizens to leave the welfare roles and purchase vehicles. They also resulted in some people quitting work, because they were bullied at work and in their neighborhoods for taking The Welfare Bus (van) Their children were bullied at school for this, even in schools were incomes across the board were low. These families could not withstand the bullying, but some few other families simply could not handle full-time work and its commitments at the time. Some people really did not want a job. Eventually, the transportation programs were eliminated in the 2000s.

I woiuld certainly ride the high speed rail from northern to southern California, but the price of a ticket would need to be affordable. Even if a little higher-priced than expected, I would likely find that a monthly pass would easily and more cheaply replace a monthy car payment, auto insurance (even if purchased from Progressive's iconic and entertaining Flo, the Gecko, the Caveman, or Justin Case), and automotive upkeep. Another plus would be providing reduced fares for students, Seniors, ADA, and lower-end incomes - this would cause me to have greater respect for the system and to use it more often as a general public user.

As it is, I live within 1 block of a city Express Bus, less than 1 to 2 miles from 6 other bus lines, and less than a mile from a small shopping center, banks, etc. I can walk. I feel I need to do this. because ot the lack of adequate snow plowing in the winter that leaves most neighborhoods impassable for at least 5 to 10 days sometime between New Year's Day and March 1, and the constant crumbling of the roads and highways, even in the best parts of town is unavoidable.

Taxis are very expensive here. I feel my auto is a luxury and I need to take care of it and not overuse it. On trips out of state, I rent a model that produces at least 39 mpg. Greyhound service is very limited in the state and we have no trains, except for a few stops along Lake Erie and one stop in Cincinnati, without connection between north and south borders. I would love to have high speed rail in Ohio. Thus far, we have had difficulty convincing the citizens of the need for high speed rail along some 10 or 20 miles of Route 23 running through the heart of town. This would be roughly analogous to the Cleveland Rapids rapid transit.

High speed rail and fast and efficient bus service is the hallmark of many of the Best Cities on the Top 10 and Top 100 lists of organizations such as Forbes.com, CNNMoney, Kiplinger, US News and World Reports,and several others in the US and Canada. Failure to support this type of mass transit sometimes slows a city's growth and prevents some people from gaining employment.

Until we have high speed rail or a wider, more frequently running, 24/7 system of city transit, I recommend that citizens move closer to work, to bus stops, and to business districts if they can do so. I will likely always live within walking distance of everything I need, but I would certainly use the high speed rail in California and recommend everyone to do so as well. Even if you drive, take the train once a week instead of driving, for variety, and to take advantage of a perfect time to read or take a short nap or to think.

Monorails, high speed rail, privatized and public sector space flight, 100-story elevators, and the space elevator -

Cheers to transportation!