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Buses will be primarily used to get people to a train station.
The inter-city bus routes of today will quickly fade as soon as train service is provided.
-Buses cannot go as fast as trains. They go 65 mph, trains go over 100 mph.
-Buses cannot provide as many amenities as trains.
-Highways will be deteriorating.
-Taxpayers will not want to pay 50% of the cost of bus transportation (highway infrastructure, no increase in gas tax).
Look for greater public awareness and concern over people driving, especially the huge Baby Boomer generation now approaching 70 years of age.
Driving is very dangerous. But older drivers cause even more accidents.
Boomers are caught between wanting to drive forever, and wanting to live forever.
You'll see some futile technology and futile laws to promote safer driving, but they won't work. We're getting close to Boomers switching from cars to trains, just like Generation Y has already done.
The beautiful St. Croix River, maybe the most scenic river in America, last week end.
With both passenger and freight trains gaining more business and support, passenger trains face a new foe: freight trains.
Freight railroads initially welcomed passenger trains on their tracks. It meant free government money to upgrade their tracks.
But now, there's a problem of too many trains wanting to use the same tracks.
Freight rail traffic is up, a record, and expected to double and then triple over the next decade. That's good.
Passenger rail traffic is up, a record, and expected to continue to grow. That's good.
But expect freight railroads to increasingly resist allocating too much of their track time to passenger trains, as it takes away from their own freight business. It's a good problem, but a problem nevertheless.
The solution won't be initiated until around 2020 when passenger-only track is laid for truly high speed trains, and the possibility of other track becoming governed owned is debated.
My brilliant co-author resting easy on a train.
When autos kill pedestrians and bicyclists, other bicyclists and pedestrians are increasingly protesting those killed by publicly honoring them, often on the site of the fatality.
It's another sign of growing opposition to autos and the terrible safety record of automobiles.
Look for the safety issue of automobiles to gain more visibility, adding to the decline in support for cars. And adding more force in favor of public transit, bikes and walking.
Amish farm where we go to buy wonderful Amish baked goods from the family living there.
