High speed rail a go in WI

[Russ Jerome]

I wasnt crazy about helping fund a stadium I dont use.
I dont ride public bus transit, Im sure our tax's support.
I dont ride those trolley car things, Im sure we pay for.


So now it looks like we're buying high speed rail for WI?
Are they so cheap they wont dig into our tax's?
Maybe they had a deal, buy one and get one free?
Did I miss the voting ballot? Vote yes or no for something I'll never ride?
Any other hairbrain junk our tax's are paying for I dont know about? Stuff I'll never use or make ME money?

[Reverend Cooper]

there is approx 90 mill. in a account somewhere If I recall correct waiting to be used for this.but douchebag doyle has not been able to get all sides to agree on what or how to use it

[Russ Jerome]

Oh nevermind I found a few links, its not so much the cost to buy and build it...its what its projected to lose a year after you build it. Amtrak's losing some good money so this should fail 400% worst considering its initial hit to buy in.
http://www.thehispanicconservative.com/jim-doyle/47-doyles-high-speed-rail-problem-cost-effectiveness.html

Wisconsin's new licence plate: ya we're Lemmings what about it?

[Russ Jerome]

http://zipline.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/lemmings-a.jpg

Im not too smart, hell I never finished high school but I know the entire state and freeway system could use that money in a lot better ways, supporting WI residents to perform the work and not some zipperhead building imorted trains...probably powerd with V-tech series wound motors that operate torque free........

[Russ Jerome]

I take it back, these things wreck awesome at speed!
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200411/r35565_88718.jpg
Load up Doyle and his homo's for a test ride.

[chargedformula]

bitter much?

[Doc Brown]

The trick these rail proponents play is that they initially set up the rail system to fail - low ridership, limited tracks and destinations. Once they spend every dime of the money in the fund to build it initially, they will then claim that it needs to be expanded in order to increase ridership. That's when the Regional Transit Authority created to oversee the system magically becomes yet another unelected and unchecked taxing body, and then we start to get into real trouble. The taxes are imposed, the system is slowly expanded, ridership increase is negligible to modest at best while still being heavily subsidized, and the answer is to increase again, and so on and so forth. And like the other cities where this is tried, more riders mean more subsidies the taxpayers are on the hook for. To top it all off, this doesn't even include the massive costs of maintenance on an ever-expanding system like this.

Yes, we are in some deep trouble now.

[pOrk]

And off the cliff we go one tax payer at a time

[michelle]

Stupid, just stupid.

[GR8COM]

And I thought I was the only person who thought this idea was stupid....Why do we need to go 110mph on a train in Wisconsin honestly where to people need to be that fast? I foresee a large number of car vs train accidents with this idea.

[SSDude]

The trick these rail proponents play is that they initially set up the rail system to fail - low ridership, limited tracks and destinations. Once they spend every dime of the money in the fund to build it initially, they will then claim that it needs to be expanded in order to increase ridership. That's when the Regional Transit Authority created to oversee the system magically becomes yet another unelected and unchecked taxing body, and then we start to get into real trouble. The taxes are imposed, the system is slowly expanded, ridership increase is negligible to modest at best while still being heavily subsidized, and the answer is to increase again, and so on and so forth. And like the other cities where this is tried, more riders mean more subsidies the taxpayers are on the hook for. To top it all off, this doesn't even include the massive costs of maintenance on an ever-expanding system like this.

Yes, we are in some deep trouble now.

Agreed
And these ever failing non self sustaining transportation systems are voted for by the elected officials with the (D) behind there names.
Democrats the party of FAIL!

[Karps TA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3xGtjhZ_Yg

[HY35F2T]

http://zipline.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/lemmings-a.jpg

Im not too smart, hell I never finished high school but I know the entire state and freeway system could use that money in a lot better ways, supporting WI residents to perform the work and not some zipperhead building imorted trains...probably powerd with V-tech series wound motors that operate torque free........

lol wonder if any of them own a torino.lol

[Yooformula]

this will end up as much of a success as the one in minnesota did....complete waste that barely gets used but a ton of money tossed at it.

[PonyKiller87]

Ever since they first started talking about this stupid light rail I don't think I have talked to a single person that actuly wants it or thinks it would be a good idea. Like Russ said, when was the damn vote? I'm sure most people would have voted against it.

Anyone know what the proposed route is? If its the same one they had about 4 years ago this thing will be useless.

[pOrk]

Isn't this the one they want to connect from madison to milwaukee? If so, what a retarded joke. It was proposed to save 20 minutes of travel time, big fucking deal! WHO is this going to be for? Seriously???

I like taking the train to chicago to avoid finding parking, but we dont have that problem in madison OR milwaukee.

[Deggy]

Isn't this the one they want to connect from madison to milwaukee? If so, what a retarded joke. It was proposed to save 20 minutes of travel time, big fucking deal! WHO is this going to be for? Seriously???

I like taking the train to chicago to avoid finding parking, but we dont have that problem in madison OR milwaukee.

I was just thinking the same thing while I was reading the posts before yours.

If they build this, it would be the biggest waste of money.

[Doc Brown]

If this is the one I'm thinking of running from Milwaukee to Madison, the proposal is to have it end at the Madison airport at the east end of the city - the far east end. Far away from absolutely everything in the heart of Madison. Which gives them the excuse they need to add a light rail system throughout Madison, costing taxpayers lots of money, and then to expand the high speed portion out to the Twin Cities. And everyone will be on the hook to pay for this thing, whether you live anywhere near it or not.

I wish I played poker with these types of libs. They have convinced themselves that their bluff is fooling everyone, but I can read them like a freaking book.

[Russ Jerome]

The governments early plan from what I can see is an east/west corridor with Chi,Milw,Mad and Mpls in the middle but Doyle's (pronounced: 'dush_bag') is just Milw-Madison.

If it was truly a cheap and fast ride to Mpls I would be on board but there is no way of justifying the money. Mpls has a lot to offer and a pleasant midwest change next to Milwaukee (imho).
For the proposed budget I would guess we could send every rider in a well equiped limo with a full bar for less money.

[SSDude]

Everyone who thinks this is crap, and tell anyone you know who thinks this is crap to take five minutes from there day and look up who your state Representatives are and give there office a call.
It's very simple, give them your name address and tell them you want the Rep. or Senator to oppose this.
You don't have to engage them in any lengthy conversation about it. If they hear enough negatives on this they most often change there position on it.
You can call any time of the day even after the office is closed as most of them have answering machines to record your message.
Get on it, call these dicks.
Nothings worse than people who bitch but do nothing to help

Who are my legislators? (http://www.legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx)

[Al]

The problem is how spread out Milwaukee and Madison are. Who wants to take a train and then have to walk 25 blocks from the station to your destination? If you take a cab, then you have already spent more than if you just drove and paid for parking.

[Karps TA]

Where is the news break on this? I don't see anything on JSonline?

[Al]

Where is the news break on this? I don't see anything on JSonline?

Do a Google search and set the date settings to the past week.

[PonyKiller87]

Where is the news break on this? I don't see anything on JSonline?

Liberal media trying to keep it on the DL to slide it past all of the people that realize its a horrable idea.

[Doc Brown]

Everyone who thinks this is crap, and tell anyone you know who thinks this is crap to take five minutes from there day and look up who your state Representatives are and give there office a call.
It's very simple, give them your name address and tell them you want the Rep. or Senator to oppose this.
You don't have to engage them in any lengthy conversation about it. If they hear enough negatives on this they most often change there position on it.
You can call any time of the day even after the office is closed as most of them have answering machines to record your message.
Get on it, call these dicks.
Nothings worse than people who bitch but do nothing to help

Who are my legislators? (http://www.legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx)

This is still the bet way to let your opinion be heard by your elected officials (email may not be as effective), but the problem now is that some democrats and liberals no longer care what their constituents' opinions are; the last election has emboldened them to do as they please because they feel that the voting public has spoken, and they have overwhelmingly chosen the liberal agenda to lead them into the future. And they write off all voices of dissent as right-wingers calling in because conservative talk radio hosts have told them to do so. Hopefully, it is this arrogance that will be their undoing in the next major election, but for normal people like us, it may then be too late to undo their damage.

nonetheless, call, call!! :) :headbang

[pOrk]

I called and left a happy message for Jim Sullivan, hopefully it goes somewhere.

[Plum Crazy]

if they should build any type of rail system, it should be to extend the Metra system further in to WI. Ive taken the train into Chi town and to a few Cubs games.

[Yooformula]

ahahahahaha. my rep is the infamous Lena Taylor!! She'll probably have her "people" delete my email and message like she tried with her ticket several months ago.

[awsomeears]

Absolute bull shit !!!

I would rather drive and have my own car when visiting Madison, just like somebody else mentioned by the time you walk and get a Cab ( $$$ ) your back to square 1. Hell worse off !!!

This train will be like a one night stand, everyone will ride her once and find out your pockets are empty at the end....

Fock doyle and his pea size brain...

[95mustang302]

I emailed both my sen and rep and asked why were not spending money to fix our shitty roads and pot hole problems and instead building this fly by night train system

[Irish]

Milwaukee ='s Springfield


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3xGtjhZ_Yg

[jon_we4]

This is just like a 'metra' system on the current rail right now, right? It'll go thru Occonomowoc, Delafield, Brookfield, etc between Madison & Milwaukee?

I liked the general idea of it since I live close to these (annoying) tracks. There are a bunch of jobs in Madison or way downtown that I do not really go after because I don't want to drive over an hour one way to work (and who knows how long if once it snows).

Again ... I can see there are problems with it, but in general... it doesn't seem so terrible.

[Doc Brown]

With all of the stops it will be making along the way do you really think it will get you there any faster?

And what exactly is the "high speed" in "high speed rail"?

Is it 60 mph? 70? 85? higher? How long does it take for it to get to it's highest speed? And will it travel at said speed for a majority of the distance, or just for a few straight-a-ways?

I doubt it will really go all that fast, the "Safety Police" will see to that.

[SSDude]

This is just like a 'metra' system on the current rail right now, right? It'll go thru Occonomowoc, Delafield, Brookfield, etc between Madison & Milwaukee?

I liked the general idea of it since I live close to these (annoying) tracks. There are a bunch of jobs in Madison or way downtown that I do not really go after because I don't want to drive over an hour one way to work (and who knows how long if once it snows).

Again ... I can see there are problems with it, but in general... it doesn't seem so terrible.

Wow you really haven't thought this through. What will you do when you get dropped off by the Choo Choo train at the Madison airport on the far east side of town. By the time you pay for and transfer to another form of mass transit to get to your final destination, it will have been cheaper and faster to have driven your own car.
Sounds nice huh?

[pOrk]

It is said it will save 20 minutes of travel time, but that doesn't include the cab or bus ride as a few have mentioned above. I am pretty sure the max speed in wi for a train is 55 mph if all crossings have drop bars, and 35 if they only have flashing lights w/o drop bars. The words 'high speed' are used to make this SOUND like a great idea. This isn't Japan.

[jbiscuit]

Total waste of time and resources. Typical Doyle garbage. Nobody has mentioned what a ticket will cost to ride said Utopia Rail. Anyone price out a ticket from MKE to Chicago lately via Hiawatha Xpress (amtrak)? Its like $50 1-way. And that has only a couple stops. Would you be cool with spending $60...$80...or $100 roundtrip PER DAY to commute on this stupid train? It has the phrase "high speed" in the name. That probably tacks on an additional $10 per right there. Granted you can probably buy a yearly pass and save like $150...cool. So it'll cost me $70 a day instead of $80. Yay for excellent savings. I for can see how this is a great alternative to driving my car....being that I have a money tree in my backyard and my property taxes went down $1500 this year :rolf

[pOrk]

Total waste of time and resources. Typical Doyle garbage. Nobody has mentioned what a ticket will cost to ride said Utopia Rail. Anyone price out a ticket from MKE to Chicago lately via Hiawatha Xpress (amtrak)? Its like $50 1-way. And that has only a couple stops. Would you be cool with spending $60...$80...or $100 roundtrip PER DAY to commute on this stupid train? It has the phrase "high speed" in the name. That probably tacks on an additional $10 per right there. Granted you can probably buy a yearly pass and save like $150...cool. So it'll cost me $70 a day instead of $80. Yay for excellent savings. I for can see how this is a great alternative to driving my car....being that I have a money tree in my backyard and my property taxes went down $1500 this year :rolf

If you're saving 10 dollars a day and commuting 5 days a week, you would be saving 2600 a year, not 150 :thumbsup

It costs 7 bucks and 5 cents to go from Kenosha to Chicago on the Metra

[shoooo32]

Rail works in chicago because of population density. There are more people living in cook county than in all of wisconsin. As long as we have only minor congestion on our freeways and cheap parking, light rail is a HUGE fucking waste.

[pOrk]

Rail works in chicago because of population density. There are more people living in cook county than in all of wisconsin. As long as we have only minor congestion on our freeways and cheap parking, light rail is a HUGE fucking waste.

Yes, yes, and yes.

[jon_we4]

Wow you really haven't thought this through. What will you do when you get dropped off by the Choo Choo train at the Madison airport on the far east side of town. By the time you pay for and transfer to another form of mass transit to get to your final destination, it will have been cheaper and faster to have driven your own car.
Sounds nice huh?

It just could give me a few other options. Like the train passes into waterloo, if its within walking distance from TREK thats a huge bonus. It would not work in most instances, but it would cause me to investigate more if a company is located right near a rail stop.

[SSLEVO]

From what i've seen this one would go from milwaukee to chicago, but the amtrac already goes there so idk what the point of this is. I think one going from milwaukee to the twin cities would be pretty cool. I would love to visit my friends up there without the 5 hour drive one way.

[pOrk]

From what i've seen this one would go from milwaukee to chicago, but the amtrac already goes there so idk what the point of this is. I think one going from milwaukee to the twin cities would be pretty cool. I would love to visit my friends up there without the 5 hour drive one way.

And you are willing to pay 50+ for a ticket? This isn't going to be cheap to ride...

[SSLEVO]

And you are willing to pay 50+ for a ticket? This isn't going to be cheap to ride...

Meh, I think it would be worth it. Especially on the way home after partying. Nothing sucks more than driving for hours being hungover:goof $50 would be about what i pay in gas anyway.

[jbiscuit]

If you're saving 10 dollars a day and commuting 5 days a week, you would be saving 2600 a year, not 150 :thumbsup

No. My analogy was wrong but what I meant to say was.....if it costs you $___.00 to ride it 5 days a week times a year, the year pass where you pay up front probably knocks off say like $150.00 annually. I didn't write my thoughts clearly enough I guess....my second point was that even if it was $70 instead of $80, does that make it a bargain then? Sure $10 a day is savings...but still. $70 a day times 5 days a week is insane money. $1400/month to ride the train to work. Again, not factual info here...just speculating. I have no clue how someone could commute via Hiawatha service out of Milwaukee or Sturtevant for that matter to Chicago daily because of the rail cost to ride. :confused

[SSmike1]

this is a Democratic thing.
keep voting for the democrats, and you will continue to get foolish spending, and More and more taxed!

Participate in your local TEA party!

http://www.scottwalker.org/?main=true

http://www.wisgop.org/Default.aspx
http://www.freedomworks.org/news/taxed-enough-already