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Bullet Train between Dallas and Houston

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  • candcallen

    Crotchety, Snarky, Truthful. You'll get over it.
    Emeritus - "Texas Proud"
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Jul 23, 2011
    21,358
    96
    Little Elm
    You cant reverse sprawl. And that ship has sailed in western cities.

    Dfw is roughly 100 by 100 miles depending on which cities you measure. If not now it will be soon.

    Thats 10 thousand square miles.

    I'm from the Phoenix area. Which is about 7500 plus square miles. Buses take hours to go from one end to the other. Freeways are pretty good and keep up with expansion as we started working and paying for them with a 1/4 cent tax 35 years or more ago. People have no problem with the tax as it goes directly to freeways in the metro area. That's how people who work get around once you're old enough to drive.

    They forced light rail thru in an obscure election about 15 years ago. All it does is destroy property values by moving what are called light rail zombies out into people's neighborhoods. Homeless criminals and drug addicts that used to stay near the jails and homeless shelters get free rides and nelt out into the city. It's really sad h oh w bad it's become. We own property there and have family there but will never go back there.

    You cant be mass transit your way out of sprawl. Its never a cost effective or timely solution.

    Massive FREEway construction properly planned executed and paid for is the solution. Not Toll roads. Tolls never go away if there is no way to pay for upkeep and roads are always reactive to population growth.
     

    kbaxter60

    "Gig 'Em!"
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jan 23, 2019
    9,902
    96
    Pipe Creek
    Houston and DFW are too spread out for this to work.
    Yes, this will be a challenge. Still, I think there is a place for this. In fact, they could add a third spread out city (SA) and make a nice triangle out of the route.
    I visited Denver a few years back and they have a nice light rail system around the city. We got from the house in the burbs to downtown in very little time. They could combine the two and take care of much of the spread issue. It also cuts down on hydrocarbon emissions and relieves you of a parking hassle downtown.
    Not all of these projects have to turn out like the CA circus.
     

    oldag

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    7   0   0
    Feb 19, 2015
    17,425
    96
    Yes, this will be a challenge. Still, I think there is a place for this. In fact, they could add a third spread out city (SA) and make a nice triangle out of the route.
    I visited Denver a few years back and they have a nice light rail system around the city. We got from the house in the burbs to downtown in very little time. They could combine the two and take care of much of the spread issue. It also cuts down on hydrocarbon emissions and relieves you of a parking hassle downtown.
    Not all of these projects have to turn out like the CA circus.
    They you pay for it.

    Not one taxpayer dollar. I have seen how these go.
     

    oldag

    TGT Addict
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    7   0   0
    Feb 19, 2015
    17,425
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    The idiot Houston Chronicle "writer" (who thinks we can go 100% wind/solar) now claims this will create "millions" of jobs. Yeah, right.
     

    satx78247

    Member, Emeritus
    Emeritus - "Texas Proud"
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jun 23, 2014
    8,479
    96
    78208
    To All,

    Personally, I see NO reason for a bullet train, whether public or privately funded, given how inexpensive that Dallas-San Antonio-Houston air commuter flights easily COULD be.

    Fwiw, I know of 2 "wealthy individuals" that are planning a "round-robin shuttle" several times each day, connecting Dallas, San Antonio & Houston.
    (People, who know a H of a lot more than I ever will about intrastate air travel, say that IF the "round-robin" was flying that it would make a "serious profit" at 25-30.oo per ticket.)

    yours, satx
     

    JohnSo

    Member
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Sep 16, 2020
    65
    11
    Corpus Christi, Tx
    And why do we need this? Is there really that much commuter traffic between Houston and Dallas?

    I see a huge waste of time, money and resources.
    This is so true, having lived in California for a couple of years, I watched the light rail system getting installed in Sacramento. It was a complete waste of taxpayer money. In Tuscon where I've lived as well, their light rail system is a total bust. These are leftie wet dreams that never realize any profit and will burden taxpayers for ever. They are exclusively virtue signaling tools.
     

    toddnjoyce

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Sep 27, 2017
    19,285
    96
    Boerne
    All my life I’ve understood a four-plus hour drive each way is a day trip. Must be people not from around here pushing this bullet train idea.

    End result ain’t gonna save much time because I can guarantee that thing ain’t going back and forth non-stop so you’re still traveling on it’s schedule, where as there’s at least 30 daily departures at each city going the other way that leaves the traveller with a perception that they can customize their schedules to fight in an hour face to face meeting and they’ll get to work via wi-fi at the airport and on the plane while airborne.

    The train ain’t competitive for the business traveller; sure, some will use it when it makes sense, but it’ll be the leisure travelers that make up a majority of the ridership until there’s departure availability that enables flexibility like the airlines do.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2019
    47,021
    96
    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    I just think it would be a huge waste of money, and possibly even lose money in the long run.

    For a commuter, I see a large logistics problem. Yes, it saves you some amount of time for travel between the longest points of Houston and Dallas. But what if you have to travel across either city to get to the depot/station to depart, or get to the arrival point in the other city? You also will have to have some means of travel once you arrive at the destination, like a taxi, bus, or Uber to get around.

    Personally, I just don't see it as practical or economical for most people.
     

    gdr_11

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 1, 2014
    2,895
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    In the United States there is no such thing as a rapid transit system that ever even comes close to breaking even financially in an annual operating basis. All of the light rail systems are subsidized by local agencies and none ever see daylight financially. They are all money pits and never approach anything close to what the initial projections are.

    All you have to do is look at the toll roads and how much subsidy money went into them until the voters had enough and blocked the allocation of highway funds to the toll agencies. If you look deep enough, I am sure you will find plenty of government funds going into the toll agencies coffers.

    Although the initial costs of projects like this are huge, they are usually dwarfed by the ongoing costs of operation that the rider fees never pay for and must be made up somewhere
     

    SA_Steve

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Oct 1, 2014
    1,544
    96
    San Antonio, Texas USA
    I've been that one person on the bus twice, and once it was a free ride since the money box was broke. That's out of my 6 bus trips in 6 years. San Antonio bus, it's very nice, even has wifi.
     

    SA_Steve

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Oct 1, 2014
    1,544
    96
    San Antonio, Texas USA
    I've ridden that (commuter?) train from Ft. Worth to Dallas twice. Pricey and takes an hour+, no crowds at all. Never got a chance to ride the Houston to Galveston one even on its re-boot some years ago.
     

    Coop45

    TGT Addict
    Emeritus - "Texas Proud"
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    1   0   0
    Feb 9, 2012
    3,280
    96
    texas
    Thirty years ago and old man stopped and told me a story about when he was a kid. Seems the river was up and the mail could not get to Ft Griffin so his dad and another man rowed across and picked up the mail, but capsized the canoe coming back. About that time a guy flew in with a Jenny and offered airmail service for a price. They collected money from the citizens and if the donation was large enough there was a ride in the airplane. His grandad gave enough to get all his grandkids a ride. When the agreed on amount was collected the pilot flew away with the money and never came back. Ft Griffin missed having airmail by that much. LOL!
     
    Every Day Man
    Tyrant

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