USA Bus Lines

Do you support high-speed rail in the USA?

I'm not talking light rail or subways within a city. I'm talking trains that take you from one city to the next. If so, do you currently use rail to get around? If not, then why not? Do you know what the rail schedules and prices are in your area? If you don't use rail now why would you use it in the future? I live between Tampa and Orlando Florida. We have voted down both light and high-speed rail many times but the local politicians keep trying to force it on us. I don't think it makes any sense for this area. We currently have rail service available from Amtrak to go from Tampa to Orlando in less than 2 hours for only $10 and NOBODY uses it. The 5 billion dollar high-speed train proposed will only cut 15 minutes off the trip. The big problem is, once you're at the train station in Orlando you have to do several bus transfers to finally get where you want to be. Why would we need a new expensive train when the one we are already subsidizing isn't being used? I could see if Amtrak trains were overloaded with passengers (and they actually made a profit) and there was a need to expand the service to handle demand, but that's simply not the case. Rango - that's what I hear from local politicians... the (car) traffic is heavy so we need to build railroads. How does that make sense? That won't help the car traffic. In fact, years of overpass and cross street construction to allow for the new rails will guarantee traffic on the I-4 corridor will be even worse for the next 10 years. Heavy car traffic indicates the need for more highway infrastructure not a rail line that no one wants and no one will use. The greater Orlando area is over 4,000 square miles with over 2.7 million people. It is very spread out. The central business district is only a very small part of the city. The only major arteries through the city are I-4 and the 417 toll. I-4 backs up because traffic stops in Orlando. They are desperately in need of more feeder roads and bypasses. Think what Houston would be like without 610 and the concentric toll roads around it. ... it's not more "super highways" that are needed. It's more grade level feeders and bypasses to distribute and collect traffic from different parts of the city. I drive through Orlando at least once a month and I can tell you I-4 comes to a complete stop from 7am to 9am and 5pm to 9pm. The rest of the time it's just slow. Unfortunately, it seems the politicians are in bed with the toll companies and won't fix the problem if it cuts into toll revenues.

Public Comments

1. I think we need high speed rail in the heavy traffic corridors it just makes sense. It is cheaper then building more and more superhighways.
2. Tampa to Orlando is a major joke. It's a frikkin' 90 minute drive. Who needs it? YES, Disney!!! Let them build a monorail then. Disney could build a high speed rail service from NY to Orlando, with a month's worth of parking fees for Disney and Epcot.
3. If high speed rail could be profitable, the freight railroads would have built them years ago. But since they cannot operate without government subsidy they haven;t been built. It's that simple.
4. I support high speed rail because they are needed in California. It will increase ridership over time. I think people from Japan and France should be hired to supervise the building of the tracks. The tracks and trains have to be in perfect condition. People from the USA do not have that much experience building a high speed rail network.