Move Forward With Rail Service For Ohio
Signature goal: 1,000
Target: Governor-elect John Kasich, Ohio Legislators
Sponsored by: Ohioans for Economic Development and Transportation Choices
Ohio has a tremendous opportunity to bring efficient, modern passenger rail service to one of the most populous corridors in the country – but the opportunity may be slipping away. Governor-elect John Kasich has stated his intention to stop this important economic development infrastructure project. Send a message to the incoming Governor and your legislators that you support bringing rail service to Ohio that will connect our state to the Midwest and East Coast!
Read More / Sign the Petition – Here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ohio-rail/
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I think we desperately need inter-urban rail service in Ohio so I will NOT be signing this petition.
Until the politics change it wouldn’t matter if this petition got a thousand or five million signatures: large infrastructure projects in this state require bi-partisan support and right now rail is seen as a Democrats-only project (I’m not sure why; their support has been luke-warm at best). Until this situation changes all rail proposals will die in an avalache of partisan rhetoric.
This is inter-urban rail service, although not the same as the inter-urban that existed 80-90 years ago. Do you mean intra-urban rail service?
I don’t think Ohio needs this. It runs along important interstate corridors that are already traveled by thousands daily. Many people will still use the roads. In fact, as many people that are projected to ride this in a year ride the New York Subway every three hours. Just to put it into perspective. Also, this will cost way more to ride than the cost of the gas it takes to get from Columbus to Cleveland. and, you need to buy individual tickets for this service. In a car, you do not.
Hayde wrote:
>this will cost way more to ride than the cost of the gas it takes to get from Columbus to Cleveland. and, you need to buy individual tickets for this service. In a car, you do not.<
You're not looking at the full comparison of individual transportation costs between driving and taking public transit. The cost of driving is *not* just the cost of gasoline in the tank — far from it. If you rent a car, then there's that cost ($100 or more per day). If you own, like most, then there is the initial purchase cost ($1,000 – 50,000 or more), plus the maintenance cost (brakes, tires, oil changes, filters, gaskets, radiator fluid, water pumps, etc.), plus the cost of insurance ($1000 ~ $3,000 or more per year), plus the cost of street and private lot/garage parking ($50 – 200 or more per year).
Take a look at what you spend on all of these car-related expenses and you will begin to have a real perspective on how much of your personal life expenditures are related to your choice of transportation. I believe you'll see that cars are an expensive privilege.
I owned and regularly used a car for over 5 years, and then sold it and have been car-free since 2005. I am saving myself thousands of dollars per year. In a time when salaries and wages are flat-lining, reducing personal expenses (in this case, transportation) seems like the best way to improve one's finances.
Kevin makes good sense in pointing out that personal economy is THE bottom line. A community thus benefits by enjoying better schools, infrastructure, less polution, noise and improved property values. The “economic crisis of ’08″ (as a neutral term), subsequent drop in hyperinflated suburban property values and the general loss of jobs and opportunity will shortly force more and more Ohio citizens to reevaluate their economic interests and subsequent life style choices in favor of sustainable urban communities. Any comments on the current “cost” of gasoline, or idealized “time spent” driving to Cleveland or Cincinnati, as compared to the benefit of public transit, belong in some pulp magazine and entirely miss the point.