on the back Tom Harmon here with you and and
by Rose bigan mom
I say that right sir that's pretty good
composition fighting down the tax guy in well okay I i keep one is a bottle hurt
iPod the on I anyway I
Feigenbaum a transportation policy analyst for the Reason Foundation reason
.org
a Corsa one of the cope other funded
a by and large organizations by have the correct um
big some funding yeah islanders are yeah
is it but by and large AL libertarian organization
choice a yeah arm ITM
Great Britain right now is doing this British
Crossrail thing and the a fascinating piece in today's financial times in fact
and some other so that you know thus it they're turning into a work of art in
architecture in everything else but they're also
you doing this radical improvement in in
a transportation a Japanese company crack me if I'm wrong has offered to
build
aid love maglev train from Washington DC to Baltimore
which could pull away a lot a business or some business anyway from
Amtrak which would not be a good thing for amtrak but on the other hand America
would have a flavor a taste of what
the rest to the world has in terms of high-speed rail
the chinese have built the equivalent %uh Chicago to New York
300 mile an hour train they did that less than five years I was completed
about two and a half years ago
why is it that the rest to the world is you know the gym I'm
I've been on a high-speed trains in France and Germany
no a.m. why is that the rest the world has high-speed transportation most a
publicly-funded
but are libertarians and conservatives like yourself
are opposed to that loves somebody can make a buck off a what's wrong with the
public infrastructure
and doesn't public infrastructure like this actually encourage business
I mean you know let me look at the northeast corner that's where the
business used to be
still is well thanks time those are actually a lot of questions let me let
me first
thank you for having me on and try to take a stab sure
so first of all internal the Northeast Corridor we are actually support of
looking at high speed rail
he think that's the one place between Washington and Boston
for high-speed rail on the US actually make sense and I think it would have
been a lot more logical with president Obama has started with a corridor
well he did you know he tried to find that early on that was part of the
original stimulus bill the Republican stripped it out
well we were looking at it is wine are a number of projects
and I think what they were looking at specifically with funding that project
farce
instead of getting grants to a various number of states
but with garlic I do to get the project to look at and I do think
maglaj is a potential technology to look at you as well
obviously works well in Japan number of politicians
on the board both up Democrats and Republicans looking at that in so
what our position is is that these high-speed rail network for all the are
extremely expensive
and we do you think they should be funded by the private sector
at least in part what you public-private partnership why well if you can other
method of travel underscored or such as rail such as cars such as bus inner-city
make the bus now is real burgeoning industry better basically funded with
out taxpayer-funded
and we think it does moaned when it has that rule every single one of those
methods you just described is going over public rights of way they're all funded
by pop the
with taxpayer funding waiter funded by taxpayer funding but if you use your pay
you should benefit system so the folks who are using the cord or so
sample if you're driving and I ninety alright in your motorist using Ecuador
European gas taxes in order for the upkeep is that right
right Europe if you're a passenger in your flying on a plane you UK
a passenger charges to make sure to keep it kept up
and we think that's it that's a great method we really liked your pic is your
benefit but we still
think get that would necessarily be successful for real
in XY with that they would be major subsidies why not well we take a look at
these projects all
especially eight other countries and obviously europe you mention France and
Germany have had
systems as well as Japan those countries are a little different than the US they
have extremely high density is
they also have strong historical been coerced
immediacy that somewhat the Northeast especially with New York and Boston
it make the slightest what more realistic because the population density
SOPA other places across the US defense or skeptical
that those 10 she's what they are we do think in the Northeast they might be
which is one reason why he would support well and and and the rest the United
States I mean we have air travel a minute and
which is going through public airwaves and then we pay our taxes i mean i i
obviously airlines pay landing fees to the help support the cross the airports
but the FAA itself in
all that stuff that's that's paid out of the general fund so
um you know were were supporting
transportation what media
are you suggesting that they're just putting Amtrak got a business
I mean cuz that that would be the effective love a
you know a.m. track is making money in the northeast corner and they're using
that to subsidize
you know the Crescent down to louisiana the user to subsidize the
I forget what it's called the training goes all the way out as a child Los
Angeles
um is that your suggestion
well we are saying that we think the idea of privatizing the more he scored
like the Amtrak which
is something to look at and we do understand that they use some of that
money to subsidize other routes
but with the option of automobiles inner-city past
in train which is not convinced that Amtrak is needed
somebody score goes especially the long distance was really lose a lot of money
why not have a national
infrastructure I mean a national transportation infrastructure I
II into a have you ever been in Europe use launch
the high-speed rail yes okay so then you know that I mean you you can go from
Paris to
to to Frankfort on on the LTN
and you'll go you know 100 m me in addition going
152 her miles an hour you go a hundred miles and not see a big town I mean
there there's a lot of a rural area there it's not high density
population be there are there's a lots and lots of farmland in France and
Germany
for that matter I I don't see the the population density
issues as being a hugely different than much in the United States
you know arguably the the the rocky mountain states or something but
um it will end and what you see is that
where there is that good a high quality public transportation AAA gets using
gets his very heavily
and but be it provides a seedbed for business and I would think that you know
being a
8 in a pro-business guys you would think that
having the public you know I I just I I just don't get why not have public
services
provide that soil in which government can brought itself
why does everybody have to make a buck off everything why can't we just have
the Commons the provides the basis
for people to make a buck will I guess in some ways it comes down to philosophy
we tend to think that the free market approach where
you I guess manifestly have someone making a dollar but there's no such
thing as a free market
where we take we tend to believe it the best option out there although obviously
their barriers to
but I guess we're not opposed to public-private partnerships where you
have
the private sector bringing some their best resources to the table
in the prime-time entirely public sector why not have
a nationally run rail system into a it's working fine in Japan
is working fine in korea me we would point out that the US is different than
some of these other countries
in terms that the structure in terms of automobile ownership
the system in Japan was built before
automobile ownership is very popular in that country soap also stars
well ours is built in the 1860s but our system of course not up to
not at st. under the stairs white Norwich with the system it now
is me images for freight not use for passenger
but only because by and large it's been privatized I mean you know him on the
big problems amtrak has is that they have the rent private rails
well one of the reasons it was privatized is because the freight
railroads in the nineteen sixties were going out of business
and so one of the things that US government debt
but they decided it on the Bergen a passenger rail service
because unlike many other countries has your real purpose in the US
at least since the mid 20th century if that were possible
and they were great but realized gain by business and
so that's not necessarily the case in Europe mother okay
but if we're gonna have to to wrap it that but thank you for dropping by
apply for interesting conversation