On Thu, 4 Dec 2008 20:18:57 -0600 "Bob Sullivan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It doesn't work for a reason. The folks from the Federal Reserve are > just trying to point out the absurdity of it all. Bob, it works very well here but then the rules are a bit different. :-) cars in plenty are here, low-cost airlines are here in huge numbers but the railways is still thriving... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways > >> PJ, it's the public's choice NOT to support mass transit. > >> Always has been. Taxes never killed it, cars and suburbia did. we don't really have suburbs in the sense you have but a lot of people do commute from nearby towns to work in the cities and the phenomenon you describe (cars/suburbia) has actually helped the railways. in the last five years alone, in my own city chennai (madras), the list of companies that have set up factories is long: Hyundai, Ford, Mitsubishi, BMW, Mahindra & Mahindra. and very cheap consumer loans are available so at least for the middle classes affordability is not an issue. the problem is, the roads are not built for heavy-duty four-wheeled traffic. i live inside the city and my workplace is about 11km from my home. i took to riding my motorcycle to work in 2003 and finding it too stressful, recently, about a month back, switched to the mass rapid transit system. and glad i did. for a princely sum of 90 INR a month (about 2 US$) i can take the trains any time of the day, any number of times i want. and my monthly petrol bill has come down by more than 90% (i see lenses on the horizon). and i get to walk 20 minutes a day :-). goodness all round. just a POV from this corner of the world... regards, subash -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
