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Originally Posted by fielderLS3
I understand the thinking behind this. However, the flaw is that this argument basically says that to prevent a disaster in the future, said disaster must be artificially induced today. It's like saying, I'm afraid I might get into a car accident sometime in the next ten years, so I better drive into a tree on purpose tonight.
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You make it sound as if I want the price of gas to be $8/gal right now. Not at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fielderLS3
Access to energy is positively correlated with standard of living. Artificially reducing access to energy by taxing it will result in an artificial reduction in standard of living. It won't make mass transit cheaper, it will simply make easier forms of transportation less available, making life more difficult. Ultimately, it will RAISE the cost of alternative modes of transportation too, because the increased demand for mass transit will result in increased prices.
Lastly, if access to gasoline where restricted by prohibitive taxation, how would I move about? Let's say....just for the fun of it.... I lived in a town of 9700 people in a relatively rural part of the country. Since such a small town is unlikely to have a large scale mass transit system, and many stores I shop at and my job are in a different city, what happens to me? Why should I take a hit just so someone in a good enough position not to need to worry about gas prices can enjoy a less congested commute, with "everyone else" off the roads and tightly stuffed into buses (on which at least 10 people might have a cold or the flu at any given time during the season) where they're not in the way? Forcing that on people with already marginal standards of living, who literally couldn't afford to drive at $7-8 a gallon is arrogant, immoral, and unfair, in my humble opinion. My old Oldsmobile has as much right to be on the road as the Audi the guy who works on the floor above me has.
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I live in a rural town too, though its less than half the size of your town. Though we do have a mass transit system. It consists of several tractors shuttling people around town during the annual Poultry Fest. The nearest cities are about half an hour away, and thats where a lot of us work and shop. So you and I are pretty much in the same boat with regard to commuting. If anything, my situation is worse because I pay over $1/gal more for gas than you do. As for the cost of transit going up, it would -diesel isn't free. But the cost of mass transit wouldn't rise as quickly as the price of gas since the cost of operation as well as profit is added into the ticket price.
My view is that gas will hit that unaffordable $8/gal point eventually. Where people truly are forced to abandon their cars for something else. Its better to prepare for it while people can still choose, rather than scramble afterward. Epanding rail service takes quite a while. Bus service can grow a lot quicker, probably several months to a year for a decent expansion. But even then, as you've pointed out there are too few buses running so most are crowded and you can't always get where you want to go.
I certainly don't advocate over-crowded buses and trains. I've been on them and its terrible. I say get more buses and trains running and reduce the crowding on each. Major urban bus routes could go from having one bus every 15 minutes to every 10. Other buses would go to previously un-serviced areas. Some trains could run every half hour instead of every hour. Expanded platforms could add a couple cars to each train.