Posted by
KWG on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 12:42:15 PM
The House of Representatives today is debating a bill to re-authorize Amtrak’s budget and operations. Rep. John Mica just called it a “good bipartisan effort.” P.J. O’Rourke once called bipartisanship as a doctor, a lawyer, and his wife agreeing that he needs help.
There’s a lot of bloviating on the House floor right now about how the American people deserve the best rail system in the world. Amtrak, however, doesn’t provide this at all. Funding Amtrak, actually, is the legislative equivalent of setting fire to a big pile of money. Amtrak bleeds money every year.
For anyone who’s ever been on an Amtrak train, you’ll realize the low quality. The trains are dirty, they are always two hours late, and are ridiculously expensive.
Amtrak is a public-private cooperation, in the sense that it’s a government-protected pseudo-monopoly that is heavily subsidized. And, as I said before, bleeds money to the tune of $200million/year.
Perhaps we should consider the fact that the United States isn’t very suited for rail travel. Although airline fares aren’t great with rising oil, train tickets can easily outpace air fare. I paid $300 for a round-trip Amtrak ticket to New York City from Washington recently, for example.
I’m going to defer to Reason: it’s time to abandon this train wreck.