On Dec 5, 10:42*pm, aemeijers wrote:
On 12/5/2010 10:32 PM, Michael B wrote:



On Dec 5, 9:23 pm, zzz
wrote:

But rest assured they will find a way to tax it if electric autos become a
lasting reality.

As they should. *Someone has to pay for the roads. *Who better than the users?

Who better to pay for the roads? I see it this way.
The municipal governments pay for maintaining
the roads, then they put another chunk of money
into trying to set up urban mass-transit. They've
got it all wrong. They are subsidizing the oil
companies by repairing the roads that are being
used by their customers. Let the oil companies pay
for the roads.
And hey, the U.S. owns about 40% of GM, let GM
be turning out cablecars.

Oh, grow up. You can't put a streetcar track down EVERY street, even in
dense urban areas. Roads will ALWAYS be needed. Even where mass transit
passes the common-sense test, the cheapest solution is almost always
rubber-tired bus service. Steel wheels only make sense on high-volume,
high-traffic corridors.

Standard disclaimer- if the buses ran out this far, and went where I
needed to go, I would ride them. I did in college, and liked it a lot.
But I'm not gonna freeze my ass off downtown waiting for a transfer, or
take an hour each way getting to work, when I can drive it in 12 minutes
on a bad day.

Actually, I agree with you. And know that places like
London have their act together, but it'll eventually
show up here. They have a BIG tax on the gas, it
goes to setting up and maintaining mass transit,
and just to "encourage" its use, they have a
"congestion tax" of 14 pounds or so for driving in
the deep urban services district.
Most bus companies are just doing the dance. In
London they don't have bus schedules, they have
maps. Even if you just missed it, there will be
another within 15 minutes. At least, that was our
experience.
Wait till gas gets to $5 a gallon, I'll still drive to the
Home Depot and back. Because it's simply not
practical to do it otherwise. But when/if it's $10
a gallon, I'll consider the bus.