A really simple and fast and efficient solution to the “energy problem”, “global warming”, “peak oil (if it is even true)”, etc. would be to use Mass Transit all across the USA and all of its suburbs. This can easily be done by an efficient high tech BUS transit system, can be managed by public, semi public or private companies of any kind, maybe even private companies performing some form of “competition”, such as to “improve”, said Mass Transit.
In reference to JHK and:
kunstler.com/blog/2010/07/my-tea-party.html
What I find incredible about JHK and others, is that they talk about trains, chu chu trains and all, and leave out the most important part: the last mile. How on earth will any possible passenger train have any passengers if they can’t get from their house to the station of departure, then from the station of arrival to destination ? Is that so hard to understand ? Every time people, governments, “researchers”, politicians and anyone else talk about “High Speed Trains, like in JAPAN”, how come they forget about THE LAST MILE ? How is that intelligent people are so clueless and stupid on these issues ? Has their brains been completely lobotomized ?
Even before talking about trains and high speed rail and any form of mass transit that can really work, that has any possibility, an efficient and complete BUS transit system must be first put in place. The trains would come after the BUS systems are in place.
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In order to use railroads you need the “last mile” connection, the connection that runs from your suburban home or inner city home to train station of departure A, and then from train station of arrival B, to your suburban or inner city office park. Having railroads with no extensive and complete BUS system is like having a pool with no water.
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While railroad transit cannot operate at all without the complementing BUS transit, BUS transit can operate perfectly without railroads.
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The huge massive infrastructure for BUS transit is already in place and has been built and in development for over fifty years and represents a multi-decade trillion dollar investment already financed and finished. No other nation on earth comes even close to the amount of roads and highways the USA has, it is one of the most massive resources of the USA and one of its most important overall assets: IT IS A LARGE CHUNK OF THE WEALTH OF AMERICA.
(just compare it to the goat trails of Northern Italy, and most of the rest of the world including the west and JAPAN someone talked about above). -
The cost of creating a very efficient and complete BUS transit system, that can be run by any combination of local, state, federal or private actors, in any of hundreds of possible ways, by using internet calling systems, by using many different kinds of BUSES, high class, luxury etc. is so small, is absolutely tiny compared to the 2 trillion dollars the USA health care system costs, compared to the 500 billion dollars the USA defense costs, compared to the one trillion dollars the bank bailouts costs, etc. In fact with only 10 billion dollars you could supply the USA suburbs with about 10,000 BUSES, that would be 100 new BUS routes in the 100 most important metropolitan areas.
The cost is peanuts, the technology is very well known, the infrastructure is there, then why doesn’t anyone ever mention or think about this so simple solution to the energy - oil problem ? Because they have been brainwashed to think BUSES “are bad”, the neural circuits of 300 million americans have been hardwired in such a way so that even the simple concept, the simple idea of BUS transit gets erased into oblivion in their minds.
The solution has been staring in the face of America for 50 years, no one seems to see it. I can’t believe it.
Anyways, all of JHK’s railroad fantasies, and all of the fantasies everyone else has about railroads is just like “magical thinking”, and “wishing on a star”: it will never happen without a huge and efficient BUS transit system.
Unless you live and work exactly in the departure and arrival stations…