We had a car, a perfectly good 1941n Studebaker Landcruiser Commander. It was just a lot easier and more convenient to walk down to the train station with our pillows and a suitcase at midnight, recline our seats and sleep our way to Penn Station at 8Am, spend a full day and evening in NTC and sleep our way home.Our pillows and suitcase went in a locker at the station. no parking hassles, no need for a hotel and no necessity of driving in NYC.
Visiting Europe almost 10 years ago made me yearn for the rail system we used to have.
I donât know what role if any GM played in the demise of rail passenger service, but I do know that they bought up many small inter city bus lines and closed them, it would not surprise me if they did the same thing with light rail (street cars}
I know that hen Buffal was getting itâs subway and they were talking about light rail rapid transit I drove down to where therail cars were parked and sawwhat looked like the street cars of my youth.
The Buffalo History museum has a film of McKinleyâ1901 Funeral and in it can be seen very modern lookin g electric trains dropping and picking up passengers.
You can revisit those days, Amtrak service from Buffalo to Penn station is $68 to $115 for a weekend trip. The ride is 9 hours each way. Time, cost and the interstate system, perhaps the reasons people stopped taking trains.
We charge our 2 EVs using PG&E and our rooftop solar installation. Since we had the solar installed last August, PG&E is reporting they owe us >$90.00 for âAnnual True upâ⊠paying us for the electricity our solar panels generate beyond what our house uses.
Also, we use only non-fossil fuel electricity. We have that option here.
Yes, but you cannot do it from the small town I lived in or any of the small towns I passed through on the way because none of them have Amtrack.
Many in our family have used Amtrack between Buffalo and Albany and experienced delays, breakdowns, non working A/C and non existent, promised,handicapped service
How does PG&E guarantee that the electricity you get at night when the solar panels are non-functional (and you are charging your EVs) is completely devoid of power generated by the natural gas power plants or the diesel booster generators still online at Humboldt Bay Generating Station or Gateway Generating Station or the Colusa County station? Or that the power PG&E purchases from the grid system is also completely fossil fuel free?
Why? I have several vehicles, but I only drive one at a time.
A) The government isnât in the business of running for-profit businesses. Government exists to provide services that are not profitable, because otherwise a regular business would do it. No one whines that the fire department doesnât turn a profit.
B) Amtrak is profitable now. Or at least, was before the pandemic. It probably lost its shirt like every other business that depends on people not being under stay-at-home orders to make money. But it will be again. Acela makes enough money to more than make up for losses on the other lines.
You call AAA and they send a charging truck out.
But thatâs not used all that much because EVs are pretty smart about alerting their drivers that they need to charge, and EV drivers are generally pretty good about stopping to charge before theyâre out of juice.
Yes, they are. Amtrak was formed as a for-profit corporation by the US gov. Whether they should have been set up this way is certainly up for debate. Reference paragraph 1 in the link below.
No they are not profitable now and never have been.
That article is ridiculous. Of course Amtrak counts government subsidies in its profit statements. So do oil companies. So do airlines.
If youâre arguing that government subsidies shouldnât be given to for-profit companies, fine. But then letâs quit subsidizing everyone else as well.
To be clear Iâm not objecting to expecting Amtrak to be fiscally responsible. Iâm objecting to pointing at them and yelling âmoney loserâ because the government is propping it up, when the government props up a vast array of commercial endeavors, from airlines to oil companies to even freaking tobacco farmers.
Oil companies donât need government subsidies and tax breaks. They make an astonishing amount of money. Tobacco farmers donât make anything useful, and in fact what they manufacture literally kills its customers. They certainly donât need government handouts. At least the train gets people from point A to point B.
Hell, government subsidization of ethanol alone led to at least a decadeâs worth of wasted time that we could have been using to advance EVs instead of fooling around with wasting farm fields for fuel production.
There are plenty of less-worthy areas that receive government subsidies, yet somehow when the train gets them itâs a national travesty. Amtrak should be the last company to get grief for government help, because itâs a government company. If you want to get upset at subsidies, start with the private businesses that suck in the tax dollars.
Oh, and to your first comment, I probably didnât make myself clear enough. What I was trying to convey is that the government should not be in the for-profit business (and usually is not), and therefore Amtrak should not be expected to make a profit. If it can make a profit, then it should be spun off to a for-profit company. The government is not a business, and pretending that it should be is problematic on a number of levels that go way off topic for this forum.
Maybe youâll find this one more to your likingâŠ
Amtrak lost $700M in 2020, $29.8M in 2019 and $170.6M in 2018. Again, not profitable, not even a zero sum financial result. Whether a for-profit or a not-for-profit corporation, neither can or should run in the red for any length of time.
No where did I say that nor even imply that. That is a rabbit hole with no bottom.
I VERY strongly agree with that statement! The US government, however does not. 17 times it does not.
If the government wants to provide a service, like Medicare, it should provide that service, although 39% of those recipients get their coverage from Medicare Advantange Plans offered by insurance companies.
Amtrak has faster and newer trains estimated to be built in 2024 but instead of the 120mph top speed theyâll be limited here to 80mph. They tried to speed things up a little by using another rail line at Dupont as a shortcut to Tacoma. Thatâs when Amtrak derailed right onto I-5 a few years ago.
The biggest limiting factor for train speed is the tracks. Before Amtrak could put the highspeed service between Boston and DC they had to spending millions in upgrading the rails.
Sorry to burst your Eco Bubble but Penninsula is lying to you right on their own website. Their ECO100 program is showing 50% from wind and 50% from solar as a supply.
If that is true, where does the power come from on windless evenings? Surprisingly, it does not specify.
Thatâs not really a great list for the argument though. Just as one example, FDIC receives no public funds. Itâs entirely funded by premiums paid by its insured. As such inasmuch as it is âfor profit,â itâs only to maintain reserves to do its job. Itâs not like some CEO is getting Bezos-rich off of FDIC gains.
To answer the original question (WHEN you get an EV), I honestly doubt I ever will. Itâs not like itâs a given. The Bible states repeatedly âand it came to passâ. I believe EVâs will pass. Itâs not a new idea. Theyâve improved upon the idea, but I donât think itâll work in some areas and some driving stylesâŠever. Battery capacity and charge times can only be improved upon so much. Just like ICE efficiency can only be improved upon so much. The take rate for EVâs is less than 3% (last I heard). People donât even have the patience to wait in line at the gas pump. But theyâll wait to charge an EV? I donât see that.
And it came to pass that they built an all electric Mustang. But 97% of the people still preferred the 5 liter .
And then thereâs the need for an EV and how it helps anything. If your electrical power doesnât come from 100% wind or solar (and it doesnât), I donât see the point other than a feel good, âIâm doing a good thingâ vibe. Which is fine if youâre into that. Iâm more of a cheapskate, late adopter type.
Maybe I should say âWhen I get an EV, everyone else will already have one and charging it will be a given.â But weâll see.
I think it might catch on when you can drive from NY to Florida or NY to California in the same time as a gas powered car. without stopping to recharge.
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