Yesterday America's highest speed rail line, Amtrak's Acela, broke down in Baltimore stranding the company's CEO and the reporter he was travelling with. Ironically they were en route to the ceremonial ribbon cutting of Wilmington, Delaware's recently renovated train station. It was being renamed in honor of Vice President and former Delaware Senator Joe Biden who helped shower it with stimulus funds.
After determining that he couldn't get to the train station by train, Amtrak's CEO finished his journey with an evil, sprawl-inducing, gas-guzzling, congestion-creating, but always reliable private automobile. Perhaps that's what new urbanists really mean by the term "automobile dependency".
Full story here.
Perhaps the advocates of the "no-car" lifestyle need to rethink their orthodoxy. Then again, as often as I see Cincinnati's "no-car" advocates getting in or out of their automobiles, it looks like they already have.
ReplyDeleteBecause cars never breakdown. Neither do airplanes, which are always on time.
ReplyDelete^Remember the opening scene from Atlas Shrugged? Dagney Taggart would never abandon her customers for a bureaucrat. She'd find a way to get the train there.
ReplyDeleteAmtrak will never amount to anything as long as they continue to view themselves as a quasi-government agency instead of a real business.
Because Atlas Shrugs is real, right? BTW, Ayn Rand lived on welfare for the latter portion of her life.
ReplyDeleteWell Fris,
ReplyDeleteWhen my car breaks down guess who is responsible for paying to get it fixed - ME. The taxpayers are on the hook for your rail fail fixes though.
No big deal. I like to brag about going carless, but I just have my girlfried drive me around everywhere - in her car.
ReplyDeleteNevermind the girlfriend, I've personally seen Mr. No Car Man Brad Thomas getting in and out of his car and driving around town. They sure love rail, just not for themselves.
ReplyDeleteWait, so he had a commitment to get to a place on time and his main method of transportation wasn't an option and he took an alternative? The audacity!
ReplyDeleteThis is just as bad as when someone has car troubles and uses one of those stupid rental cars or taxis. How about when someone takes the train when snow causes airlines to shut down, what a bunch of losers.
What a bunch of losers anonymous? No, the losers are those that backed the urban choo choo, which will never, ever be built. Enjoy the losers' bracket. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDelete