Quote Of The Day: A Streetcar Named LaHood

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

The National High-Speed Train Network seems to go nowhere, fast. But wait, here’s the next big thing:

“The Obama Administration is committed to putting Americans back to work making the products our nation needs to compete,” said Secretary Ray LaHood. “We want U.S. manufacturers to supply the rails for U.S. streetcars and today’s meeting was a first step toward making this a reality.”

From a DOT press release, dated 6/6/2011, titled “U.S. Department of Transportation Encourages American Production of Steel Rails for Streetcars.”

According to the release, streetcars make “a real comeback in many cities.”

Scary.

But wait: Can we text in streetcars? Yes?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Jimal Jimal on Jun 07, 2011

    I'm a car guy; always have been. That being said, after travelling to NYC, Boston, Washington D.C. and London I've learned to appreciate properly run mass transit. The idea of leaving your car in the 'burbs and jumping on light rail or a subway into the city center and then head back out after doing whatever it was you did there just makes sense to me. Sure trains break down on occasion, but in dense urban centers traffic jams are a constant, not just a possibility. I'll take a car outside of urban areas any day, but for travelling into a city, I'll take Metro North, The T, The Underground or The Metro any day.

  • ChuckR ChuckR on Jun 07, 2011

    Congested cities like Boston are prime candidates for streetcars. Thank God they already have a system in Boston, because it would beggar us to create one from scratch. Remember the economical and timely Big Dig? No? That's because it was neither timely nor economical. Late and it overran by an order of magnitude. Does anyone think that building the roadbeds and rail systems for streetcars elsewhere will fare better? If so, I'd like to introduce you to human nature and all its foibles and sins. But I really don't care as long as my Federal general tax or my Federal gas tax doesn't get nicked for it. This mode of transportation is always a state issue or actually more an SMSA issue, but that's a real can of worms where an SMSA reaches across state lines. The Feds became involved in surface transportation because the interstate system was established for national security purposes. Certainly can't say that about streetcars. By bringing the cost closer to the immediate consumer, you should also get the benefit of closer scrutiny about that cost and utility in each specific instance.

  • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Jun 07, 2011

    When La Hood speaks of U.S. companies building rails, is he speaking just of rails? The real money and employment gains would be in the design and manufacture of the rolling stock... (and, btw, wasn't that a part of the conditions of the government bridge-loans to 2/3 of the D3 back in late 2008???)

  • Carlisimo Carlisimo on Jun 07, 2011

    Mass transit is only a good use of money when your roads and airports become saturated, but your population (and their transportation needs) keeps increasing. That's happening. Many of our metro areas are to the point where you can't just add a freeway. First of all, freeways are wide, such that eminent domain is more affordable for rail projects (which still require quite a bit of width). But more importantly, new freeways in a developed area just move the bottleneck elsewhere. You would need to upgrade freeways, major arteries, and parking facilities to increase car capacity. Far less of each are required when you add a different form of travel. I work in San Francisco, which has four bridges and two peninusla freeways feeding into it, as well as two mass transit systems (though one of them probably carries 10x as many people as the other). When the bigger one shuts down, the road system can't handle the added traffic. It wouldn't really be possible to add that capacity to the road system, given the geography and density. It'd be easier to add more train capacity. Most cities have more space, but I suspect that any city with traffic jams and little unused space could accomodate more people with rail than new roads.

    • Luke42 Luke42 on Jun 07, 2011

      Airports *ARE* mass transit. Unless you're fortunate enough to own your own airplane, anyway. I'm a private but I'm not rich enough to own my own aircraft, so I'm stuck on the bus with the rest of you bastards. (Actually, I'd rather ride an actual bus than an airliner.)

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