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Illinois official: train ridership up
Wisconsin resident: Train ridership stagnant as usual outside and Hiawatha and Empire builder corridors.
Thank you again, govenor walker for ailing our state in multimodal transportation for the people. WI once hosted trians like the 100mph Hiawathas, the 400’s, and numerous regioanl and interregional services that in their day made roads look like deerpaths. And of course to a 100 watt power inverter in my car I am writing this while stuck in gridlock in my car on I-94 between Milwaukee and Chicago.
Hoboing freights is faster than riding the trains here in WI!
Frequency, reliability, connectivity. The speed is nice to have. For now, the increased frequency is paying off. The next two items require work.
If you build it; riders will come…
You have to wonder if ridership would be down if the train riding welfare recipients were required to cover the full costs of operation, like other modes of transportation. I would have to say there would be nobody using trains if the recipients were required to pay their own way. Transportation welfare is the passenger train.
Now you know why the road maintenance is not funded properly and the money keeps disappearing into thin air. Say hello to even higher fuel taxes. The haves must provide for the have nots. That is how transportation socialism works.
If motorists and airline passengers were required to pay the full costs of providing those modes of transportation, nobody would be traveling anywhere and we’d still be living in caves.
Jeffery Guse, while passenger trains do received subsidies, most of the transportation subsidies actually go to pay for rural roads which are even further from covering their full costs than trains. I hope you’re not one of those rural train haters that drives on subsidized roads
“Transportation socialism,” as one reader puts it, brought us the Interstate highway system and Air Traffic Control. Should we go back to privately-owned plank roads and turnpikes?
What kind of amenities are coming with the new cars being mentioned here?
This is the type of incremental improvement that provides real results in terms of convenience, reliability, and most of all increased ridership.
Hopefully, when completed and operating at the 110 mph promised, this will serve as a model to other states in the midwest.
Motor vehicles on public roads ride on roads not paying property taxes to local, state, and school authorities. The signal systems for roads–such as they are–are paid for by taxes, not merely auto and truck owners. When autos and trucks are told to drive on privately owned roads paid for out of tolls–after having paid condemnation awards to property owners of land taken by the road builder and owner, then auto and truck owners will be on a level playing field with railroads.
If someone makes a civilian version of the Stryker or Abrams tank, then we can stop building roads. Those vehicles can go through mud. Americans are so addicted to gasoline, I am surprised no one has started making gasoline mint juleps.
Being a rail passenger, and a person with next to no debts at all, and a homeowner with a mortgage paid in full, I find Jerry’s comments derrogatory. His comments come from the heartless “me first” individuals. He does not realize that railroads paid dearly in proerty taxes that were used to build the highways we have toady. The shortage of highway funds is because too much of that highway money is being spent on buidling new toll roads and lexus lanes, which needs to be cut off. The highway department built itself into bankruptcy because they failoed to maintain the roads we currently have at the expense of building new ones. If you are not going to maintain the roads you currrently have, why build new ones?
What are “enhanced passenger experiences”? A train is a train. I’ve read about trains, watched trains and rode long distance. I sure don’t know what could have enhanced my experience.