In article ,
says...

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:24:40 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:57:12 -0500, Gene
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:44:10 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:17:00 -0500, Harryk
wrote:

I hate to say it because I do love the state, but
Florida seems to elect one idiot after another for governor.

"Three weeks after Gov. Rick Scott put the brakes on high-speed rail,
the Florida Department of Transportation on Wednesday released a study
showing the line connecting Tampa to Orlando would have had a $10.2
million operating surplus in 2015, its first year of operation.

The study showed the line would have had a $28.6 million surplus in its
10th year."

I'd guess Governor Scott nixed the project because he couldn't figure
out a way to personally benefit from it.

That was based on the wild assertion that 3 million people would ride
on it. That is what the Acela gets, with 50 times the number of people
within 50 miles of the stations.

3 million was a low-ball..... Acela doesn't serve Mickey World....

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/mar...-made-more-mo/

That is a bogus number. Are you really saying the meager populations
of Tampa and Orlando would match the ridership of a train between
Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York metro and Boston?

Who would fly to Tampa to take a train to Orlando when Orlando has a
nicer airport with lower landing fees (cheaper tickets)

That is particularly true when you figure out it only takes about an
hour to an hour and a half to drive it. You are not going to be able
to do much in either town without a car anyway.
If these cities want a commuter rail line, let them build it but don't
confuse that with a cross state train line that will run empty most of
the time.

Landing fees don't tell the whole story. It is *considerably* cheaper
to fly to Tampa rather than Orlando and hotels in Tampa are about half
the price of Orlando.

Yeah, but who the hell wants to fly to Tampa? There is nothing there.