Where is Amtrak's slice of the pie?Reader comment on: Friedman's Acela Ride Submitted by Dave (United States), Oct 24, 2010 10:41 Both Ira and Tom clearly don't have a firm grasp of this issue. Amtrak is quite underfunded and does a great job operating their nationwide system with the little money that they receive from Congress. In regards to Tom's complaints. The money was not primarily for the stations' rehabilitation but they were put at the stations because that's where people see them. They were for improving performance by doing work on the track and integral aspects of the railroad's structure. Philadelphia's station serves its purpose and you spend more time waiting for your train upstairs in a beautiful hall than waiting on the platform which was built long before Mr. Friedman was born. In regards to Ira's statements about who needs to pay. He has failed to grasp the concept that as taxpayers we pay exponentially more for the roads and the airports that these buses and planes travel for free on. Why is a bus ticket cheaper than a trian ticket? They only have to pay for their buses and gas. While railroads have to pay for the track they use, for the stations they use and for all infrastructure they depend on. Does each airline have to pay for every airport? No. Does Amtrak have to pay for every station they stop at? Yes. The transportation system is backwards. The railroads which have to pay the most to operate get funded the least and the buses and planes who pay the least get funded the most. If Mr. Friedman can get over the fact that the platforms are in bad shape then he should clearly see that the train is in fact faster than driving or flying between PHL and DC. If Mr. Stoll could take some time to educate himself on the issue he is so opinionated about then maybe he'd realize that his first point contradicts itself. He is obviously oblivious to the fact that planes and buses compete and they are both subsidized in operations, so how are trains any different? Note: Comments are moderated by the editor and are subject to editing. The Future of Capitalism replies: The highway funds come mainly from a gasoline tax. The gasoline tax funds paid by motorists get diverted to subsidize all kinds of other stuff, from light rail to bike paths. But if the problem is subsidies for highways and airplanes, the way to deal is to reduce or eliminate those subsidies, not to raise the subsidies of other methods of travel so that everyone ends up paying more taxes to subsidize travelers. Other reader comments on this item
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