The American bus revival

[Grant-53]

We are seeing buses whether tour coaches or school buses becoming slightly more aerodynamic as are the over the road trucks. A fully loaded tour bus with a Cd of 0.25 might get 20 mpg for a passenger mile per gallon figure of about 1,000. The next question is it clean and comfortable enough to ride 500 miles.
Policy makers here have made decisions based on relatively cheap petroleum fuel and national defense vulnerabilities for the last half century. The assumptions behind public vs private transportation are more idealogical in nature. In the end geography shapes culture and transportation choices. Electric cars and bicycles feed the express bus and train lines.

[Frank Lee]

42! Woo Hoo!

[Grant-53]

If you say so. ??

[pete c]

I think there are 2 main reasons for the revival of the long distance bus industry.

First off, wifi makes the time spent on the bus enjoyable/productive. Second is the fact that air travel today sucks arse badly.

Someone brought up the idea of using rail for road vehicles. I think this is a good idea.

I particularly like the idea of busses that could use these lines. It would improve safety greatly and lessen the battering the interstates take from heavy vehicles. I also think that it is ridiculous that thousands of individual OTR truckers crisscross the nation every day when these trailers could be strapped down to railcars. They would move faster and cheaper.

There is plenty of work for truck drivers that should consist of picking up trailers at regional rail yards and hauling them to their destinations.

[jtbo]

In the long run, it would be best to reduce need of travelling, it is not only moving to another location that consumes resources and energy, but everything else, eating and consuming as it is really difficult to even eat well, yet 'green' when at unknown places.

Everyone should have piece of land where everyone would get at least part of food, amount of people would then need to adjust to available ground area, it would take out many issues, even need for mass transit and silly economy that is based to constant growth.

Of course it would not be very realistic or fun, but it would greatly bring human closer to nature so human could understand nature better and live with nature instead living from nature.

Anyway, as every country seem to be so afraid of terrorism that they stomp on any amount of persons just to keep mass transit safe, it will probably cause huge problems and greatly decrease any interest to be near anything mass something, mass transit, mass events etc.

[gone7]

Most of that is fairly true. However, the other issues you mentioned must be addressed first. Take the war to the terrorists and wipe out that sort of society for the betterment of the whole world. With the current half-hearted war, our nation is tied up with a money pit where our resources are wasted instead of doing the work of improving our lives.

Also, with a better transportation system that reduces the travel time significantly, the waste in travel would be reduced. Everyone should have a chance to visit places they wish they could. If it prompts a change of locale for their home, so be it. It all evens out. Tourism is a wonderful industry.

And finally, there simply isn't enough land for everyone because of the population exposion. No one wants to give up their "right" to procreate and help ruin things for the rest of us.

We need to keep these issues in mind as we plan for more ecologically-sound methods of transportation. Our society is obviously full of short-sighted people, and that is a lot of inertia to overcome.

[Frank Lee]

When I see what our community and bidness "leaders" are doing, I wonder how anything ever turns out right. Then I pretty much lose all hope for a better tomorrow. Change won't happen because of human proactivity; it'll happen via negative influence.

[Grant-53]

I don't wait for leaders of "progress", I just figure what needs to be done and pick a couple projects I can do. This may include some polite but thoughtful communications with the appropriate policy makers. I don't waste a great deal of time on the popular media.
Population is a big talking point but consumption per capita is more critical. Having bright and thrify children prepared to deal with the future is a crucial investment, especially if Social Security is under funded.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by ACEV

We must end the noise and danger of trains going thru our towns and cities. No more dangerous crossings and no more uneven pavement there.

Rail moves 1.5 trillion ton-miles of freight per year. I'm sure you aren't suggesting putting that on trucks and onto the freeways.

And some passenger rail systems work better than others. Even if you turn the BART trackage into freeway lanes, you aren't going to cram another 430,000 cars per day onto those roads without instant gridlock.

[gone7]

HiLoMag is the only option that works in the long run. We are one hundred years behind, and we must move into the future.