The OC Register has a look at some of the controversy surrounding the Mag-Lev Bullet Train being planned for a route between Orange County, CA and Clark County, NV. Of course, everyone is calling it the Disneyland to Sin City Express.
Though the proposed train would pass through a Nevada town in which prostitution is legal, the train would not necessarily take passengers from the gates of Disneyland directly to brothels outside Las Vegas.
The hub would be within the city of Las Vegas, according to the proposal. Prostitution is actually not legal within that city.
The hub in Anaheim would still require additional transportation to reach the Resort Zone.
To me this is one of those no-brainer ideas. It makes perfect sense to connect the two largest west coast tourist cities. That said, there are plenty of other routes ready for a bullet train that make as much sense. So this is why politicians get the big bucks.
What do you think? Should tourism get the bucks or should the project go to a region capable of supporting multiple industries first?
This really wouldn’t be a good idea, trains have very low ridership compared to their cost to be built and really wouldn’t do much to get the economy going. What we need are more unique forms of transportation (perhaps an advanced high speed people mover system, let’s face it, in the U.S., we like our privacy, something a train could never give us adequately).
Vegas to Disneyland in two hours? Mag-Lev Bullet Train mired in controversy – http://is.gd/sgxp – Sin City to Mickey or Job Creation Engine?
I think that when you add in all the extra economic development that comes along with construction, communities of work and living that spring up around each station, and the energy savings in getting all those cars off the road (a car being “mostly” optional in the tourist areas of Las Vegas and Disneyland), it would be worth it.
Plus I don’t agree with the whole ‘trains have a low ridership’ argument. It’s the same argument Disney used to close the Skyway. They reduced labor hours and maintenance and made it otherwise inconvenient to use and then said, “well no one is riding it, so we can close it.”
People will ride Bullet Trains as they will be a cost savings and time savings than flying and driving.
I don’t think there’s controversy about doing the train. You have to remember who your source is, and the OC Register is really just a mouthpiece for Republican talking points and as you know, they don’t want any stimulus or public transportation in general.
I’ve written about this before.
I used to think this was a very cool idea. But the more I thought about it and the more I learned about transportation and tourism, the more I became skeptical.
Who is going to benefit from this, and will they benefit enough to make it worthwhile? People already make the trip easily with automobiles and airplanes. Most of the project will be in California, but I think Vegas/Nevada stands to benefit the most. But will they really benefit? Who is NOT going to Vegas right now because they’d have to take a car, bus, or airplane instead of a high speed train? Are there enough of those people to warrant the cost? I doubt it.
Who is visiting Vegas and saying, “If only there was a high speed train to Anaheim, I’d go spend money there, too! But there isn’t, so I’m not.”?
Plus, I would have to think that Baker, Barstow, and the “Indian gaming” places in California would definitely be against this.
I’m sure construction and train operator unions think it is a swell idea.
But there has to be some hook to get people out of their cars. Perhaps the overall trip is faster than taking an airplane, when you count all of the prep time you put in getting to the airport, through security, and boarding? I don’t know. If some reliable studies prove this to be in-demand amd financially self-sustaining, I’ll definitely cheer it on.
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