Florida: High-speed rail ridership study found line would have made profit

[seafan]

Source: St. Petersburg Times

TALLAHASSEE — Three weeks after Gov. Rick Scott put the brakes on high-speed rail, the Florida Department of Transportation on Wednesday released a study showing the line connecting Tampa to Orlando would have had a $10.2 million operating surplus in 2015, its first year of operation.

The study showed the line would have had a $28.6 million surplus in its 10th year.
The numbers are more optimistic than a 2009 study, which concluded the line would not have seen an operating surplus until 2021.

The $1.3 million study, conducted by the forecasting firms Wilbur Smith Associates and Steer Davies Gleave, shows the line would have had 3.3 million riders in its first year. The previous analysis predicted the line would have had 2.4 million riders in 2015.

Scott, who last month cited concerns about operating losses due to low ridership when he decided to kill construction of the project by rejecting $2.4 billion in federal money, dismissed the ridership study results.

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/high-speed-rail-ridership-study-found-line-would-have-made-profit/1156210

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Yeah, of course, our criminal fraudster governor Rick Scott dismissed the ridership study results.

No high-speed rail for the people, but he's hot on the bandwagon to dredge out the Port of Miami, to allow larger ships to enter the harbor. Paid by taxpayers. Bring in more WalMart merchandise, boyz!


Floridians, is it time?

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Sorry, the train has left the station, FL.

Scott blew it.

[atreides1]

2. Don't forget

Those golf courses in state parks!!!

[Roland99]

4. Personally, I'm waiting for the billboards to dot the beaches like they do I-4 and I-95

[swilton]

3. But, but, but

High speed rail would encourage mass transit and, and, and, if we had mass transit no one would rely on their privately own vehicles and corporate oil.....

we can't have high speed rail - it's un-Americun! :sarcasm:

[hunter]

5. It would have made the oil companies sad.

They much prefer cars and planes.

[Ian David]

6. It would have made a profit.... by being SOCIALIST! n/t

[liberal N proud]

7. Killing HSR was not about profit

Not for the trains anyway.

Look back in history to who killed the street car.

[Mr. Sparkle]

8. Why does the GOP hate America ? n/t

[Thor_MN]

12. It's not so much that they hate America,

It's that they love the people. And by the people, they mean the corporations. Real people, on the other hand, they couldn't care less.

[RantinRavin]

9. The study is nuts....

"The $1.3 million study, conducted by the forecasting firms Wilbur Smith Associates and Steer Davies Gleave, shows the line would have had 3.3 million riders in its first year."

That's an average of over 9,000 people per day.


No way in hell would the ridership be that high

[w4rma]

11. 9,000 a day is easily doable. (nt)

[boppers]

14. The dissenting numbers:

"The previous analysis predicted the line would have had 2.4 million riders in 2015."

2.4 billion in federal dollars to build... even at the lower numbers, they'd need to make $1,000 per rider (for an 84 mile trip) to actually pay for itself in one year. It'd have to last 100 years to be cheaper than the $10 worth of gas it costs for the same trip in a car.

Sounds like the whole thing was a huge scam to start with.

[golfguru]

10. Are any government run trains making profit? Amtrak??

[DeadEyeDyck]

13. Amtrak does pretty poorly

I am a Floridian. My folks live in Debary, north or Orlando. It is about 90 miles from Tampa to Orlando. I cannot see myself taking a train because I like to have my car at my destination. Now if they had a drive-on, drive-off train (like a ferry), I could go for that. I think it would make more sense to run from Miami to Jacksonville (or NY). For a reasonable price, something up and down the coast that carried cars might work.

[golfguru]

15. I have been to Europe several times and it is so different there

First of all Europe is very densely populated and cities are close to each other.
Most people live in high density situation, apartment living is the norm. So they
don't have garage parking where they live. Consequently commuter trains and bus
infrastructure is well developed.

Here in USA if you arrive at your destination city by train, there is no easily
available public transportation to your place of business. As you pointed out,
you prefer to have your own car when you arrive in Miami. Makes perfect sense.

Our cities are well spread out with many businesses and residential area in suburbia.
Therefore city to city trains make little sense. No wonder Amtrak loses money.

[timtom]

16. There has been no aggressive effort to wean us off

our private autos and promote mass transit.