[Colorado-Talk] EDITORIAL: 'Crazy trains' won't benefit Colorado

[Catherine Michele Mitchell]

Thanks, man!😎

> On Oct 15, 2019, at 2:28 PM, Dan Burke via Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> EDITORIAL: 'Crazy trains' won't benefit Colorado
> The Gazette editorial board Oct 8, 2019 Updated 2 hrs ago
> denver light rail
> The D train arrives at the Englewood station headed northbound to
> downtown Denver Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. Photo by Christian
> Murdock/The Gazette
> murdock
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> Happy birthday to RTD’s light rail, which launched 25 years ago Monday
> in Denver.
> From a 5.3-mile stretch has grown an eight-line system, soon to be
> nine, with 71 stations and 88 miles of track.
> The trains leave Colorado at a crossing. The future could be roads,
> rail, or more of each.
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> Long-time residents know all-too-well the promise of intercity
> passenger rail to connect with RTD and Mountain Metropolitan Transit
> in Colorado Springs. Someday, visionaries have told us for decades,
> trains will whisk us from Fort Collins to Pueblo and all points along
> the 177-mile stretch.
> President Barack Obama would get it done, optimists hoped, after
> Congress allocated nearly $11 billion for prospective rail projects.
> Wish-list maps included Colorado’s Front Range.
> LETTERS: How about some common sense?; more is not always better
> “The projects have gone mostly nowhere,” a New York Times news article
> explained on Aug. 6, 2014.
> The Gazette’s editorial board expressed excitement in 2017 about a
> Fort-Collins-based company that identified Colorado Springs as the
> likely location for a $25 million, 3-mile test link of a high-speed
> train. The plan fizzled.
> That same year locals heard about Virgin Hyperloop One, a Los
> Angeles-based company planning a system of passenger pods moving
> through pneumatic tubes in Colorado. Pie, meet Sky.
> Just last month, members of the Southwest Chief & Front Range
> Passenger Rail Commission spoke of something more likely: a possible
> 2020 ballot measure to fund passenger rail.
> Trains might culturally and economically enhance life in Front Range
> communities. They would put urban amenities of Colorado Springs,
> Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins within easier reach of millions.
> We love to dream. Ozzy Osbourne might say we listen to preachers, we
> listen to fools, we watch all the dropouts who make their own rules.
> As such, a decade ago The Gazette’s editorial board hosted
> transportation scholar Randal O’Toole of the Denver-based Independence
> Institute. O’Toole warned against our enthusiasm for passenger trains,
> calling them an outdated model. Consumers would increasingly reject
> trains for new and emerging options. If not a preacher, fool or
> dropout, O’Toole was a Debbie Downer for sure.
> Cars would drive themselves, he explained. With technical precision,
> they would enhance safety and reduce congestion. Eye roll. Weeks later
> in 2010, a driverless car wiped the smirk off our faces by
> transcending the switchbacks of Pikes Peak.
> aclk sa=l&ai=Cj46ExiqmXcCxOeyK…
> O’Toole spoke of public car kiosks and a ride-sharing culture that
> seemed a bit out there. He promised unforeseen innovation would
> further reduce demand for trains.
> Sadly, in a romantic sense, one cannot deny developments that support
> what O’Toole predicted. Colorado has never had more state-of-the-art
> passenger rail and so much population. Yet RTD ridership, on all mass
> transit modes, is in disturbing decline.
> Total ridership of 103.4 million in 2014-2015 dropped to 97.6 million
> during 2017-2018. The decline comes despite a major new rail line to
> Denver International Airport and a 20% increase in population since
> the 2010 census.
> RTD wants the public to share ideas for keeping mass transit relevant.
> “The landscape is changing,” explained a Sept. 2 press release,
> launching “reimagine RTD” five days before light rail’s birthday. The
> statement said topics for discussion should include “ride-sharing
> services” and the future of “autonomous vehicles.” No one can laugh at
> O’Toole, the cool new Ozzy Osbourne. He warned us: Don’t go off the
> rails on a crazy train.
> Before committing billions to more rail, Coloradans need to decide if
> the investment fits a quickly changing landscape. In our hearts, we
> hope it does. In our minds, we fear it may not. Colorado should
> proceed with plans that make sense. Crazy, but that’s how it goes.