Quote:
Originally Posted by AubieTurtle
Come on, transportation is a incredibly distorted market and you know it... So please... don't talk about what the market does and does not demand... If there is any type of market in the US that is more distorted by government interference and control than transportation, I'd like to know what it is... As it is, you shouldn't even use the term "market" to describe how our transportation networks are built and funded.
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I don't disagree with a single point you made, and think you got your panties in a wad over an argument that was not made. So put your gun back in the holster and have a beer -- that's where I'm headed right now!
The point of my earlier remarks about market demand was not about demand for any particular mode of transportation, but for the particular places where people will choose to live and work. That is where the market currently rations by scarcity (and thus price).
While some might prefer to decide on modes of transport first and then dictate peoples' choices over where they might live and work, the present reality is the exact opposite. Transportation is a secondary consideration about how to best accomodate the hard realities of where populations have chosen to live and work, and where they appear headed in the near term. Roads are not the only solution (let us hope!), but they will always remain a very important tool. And in Atlanta -- where 90% of the population lives well outside the central core -- roads will remain the dominant solution for a long time. Some pre-built incentives (rails and stations) might help to influence long-term choices, but too much of those would be prohibitively expensive before actual demand existed to fund operations.
And you mentioned toll roads... As we are just beginning to see, roads will become even more expensive to build as land becomes more scarce. Tolls are thus becoming a more important funding tool, and will add to the market equation affecting peoples choices of where they will live and work -- and how they will travel. But I think it will be some time before tolls become a significant factor in many peoples' decisions over where to live and work, as other factors seem to hold very stong sway in their choices.