Comment Re:Meanwhile in the US... (Score 2) 322
It is a success, because it works, and tons of goods and millions of people use it everyday.
The same argument can be used in Europe and Asia. You never refuted the grandparent's claim which is that the interstate highway was funded by government money, not by user money which you used against HSR.
HSR, will be not be, because it is simply too limited.
Europe and most of Asia would disagree.
I can take my car to from Sacramento to LA in about 6 hours, at a cost of (Gas Guzzler) less than $150 in petrol, taking my family (four additional people) as a bonus.
Yet in your entire analysis, you only account for the cost of gasoline. You didn't account for the cost of the roads you would use (they are not free and cost money to maintain or in your words LOSE money). You didn't account for the cost of the vehicle depreciation, license, registration, and maintenance. You also can't sleep and drive at the same time. You're not supposed to eat and drive at the same time. And you're definitely not supposed to drink and drive at the same time.
Meanwhile an elementary school child in Japan can travel at will as long as he has enough money to pay for the fare. The traveling business man can still drag himself onto the train despite having a bit too much to drink. Most of all, each household is perfectly happy with one car, while here in California each adult or older teenager needs their own vehicle.
AND once I get there, I would still need to rent a car.
HSR itself isn't enough, I'll give you that. Intra-city rail and adequate public transit would be necessary. We would also need to improve public transit in major metro areas. LA is already on its way with Measure R.
And further trips, I would simply just take a plane.
So you admit that cars aren't a solution, yet planes aren't a solution either. By that I would argue that the more modes of passenger transportation we have, the better off we are. In Japan the airlines compete with HSR. This directly benefits the traveler--because of the additional competition, fares become cheaper.
HSR is romantic notion for idiots. IT never pans out like the proponents claim.
In Japan, the rail companies are private entities just like airplanes and car manufacturers. They turn a profit. Why? I'll give you a few reasons:
- Japan expressways are all tolled: users must pay a fee to use the system. In America, the interstate is subsidized or socialized--whichever term you prefer.
- Rail companies are able to acquire land and re-purpose it for transportation. In California, the Interstate system was approved prior to the NEPA and CEQA regulations. These environmental regulations delay the building process for any project (including freeways) and make it more expensive. The primary target at the time was freeways due to NIMBYism. Keep in mind that the government at this time was pretty much rolling through people's backyards with freeways and using eminent domain to make it happen.
- In Japan parking is not "free" or socialized. You must pay for your own parking.
- Rail companies in Japan don't just operate trains, they also acquire and redevelop areas near train stations turning them into giant shopping malls or upscale living areas. This means users of the system have access to most retail they'll ever need. Some stations even have integrated retail and dining just like airports--but it works better than airports because of more repeat commuters.
Now in Japan people want to live near a train station because it means convenience. Property prices generally increase the closer they are to a train station--and decrease as you get further from a train station. And people are free to own cars, and drive as much as they would like, yet people choose the trains? Keep in mind that Japan especially during their boom years was not automobile averse. In fact during their boom years, it was common for individuals to purchase a car even though they wouldn't use it. Yet the public transit system and rail network still flourishes.
That's not to say that all cities in Japan are car-free. Many cities in fact require a car or an alternate mode of transit (bicycle). Yet it all works together, trains and HSR included.
Now I'll go ahead and agree with you that perhaps the government shouldn't be managing HSR. The root of the problem, I believe, is the fact that we do not treat modes of transit equally. Automobiles are heavily subsidized through road and interstate construction. So it is like we are encouraging people to drive because we're giving them access to something that would normally be very expensive. The solution is actually to stop subsidizing the interstate, roads, and parking so that other modes of transit can become competitive. But roads (namely city roads) are certainly a public good; a city road can be multipurpose and support not just cars but bicycles and pedestrians. So I'm all for subsidizing city roads. Interstate/freeways and parking however shouldn't. I would cut interstate funding through taxes and switch to a toll based system: all users pay a toll and tolls must support the maintenance of the road. For parking I would do the same: users pay for parking and all municipal minimum parking regulations are revoked. This means it would be possible to build stores with no parking in high density areas rather than paying for an expensive underground garage that would sit unused anyway.
Finally I would change property/land taxes to be separated. Currently you are taxed on the value of the property as a whole. So if you make an improvement to the property like build a skyscraper, you actually end up paying more property taxes because the total value has gone up. What this encourages is for people to purchase land, build a parking lot, and wait for nearby property to increase the value of the area. Then when the increase comes along, they then sell the land back at an increased price. If instead they were taxed relative to the value of the land, they would be encouraged to actually build something of value instead of a vacant parking lot.