Some time ago I took a trip on the Hudson and Manhattan Transit System. Not being familiar with the names of the various stops, I asked the man next to me the name of the station where we had just stopped. He replied, "I've been riding this line for fifteen years and I only know two stops: where I get on and where I get off."
We need a first-class transportation system.
Passengers want options, and when they have options, like passenger rail, they choose them.
The rail service is important for my district.
New York City has a tradition of great stations. There are cities in the world that don't have that. New York has it.
Train service is particularly vital for the students and employees of Southern Illinois University.
For 50 years my father worked for the railroad.
I am not a BART regular but have taken it probably five times to and from the city with some of my teammates. Nice to just hop on the train and enjoy some of the views of the Bay Area while I'm out.
We're building the infrastructure we need, whether it be the Melbourne Rail Link, the airport rail link which Melburnians have so wanted for over 40 years, upgrading the Pakenham-Cranbourne railway line, or building the East-West Link.
Beyond highways and roads, we need more money for mass transit, intercity passenger rail and freight rail. We have a long way to go to bridge the funding gaps.
Without the funding Amtrak needs to keep operating, we will soon see people that rely on Amtrak to get them to work each day, waiting for a train that isn't coming.
I do not see how we can rationally oppose high speed rail because of the environmental and other costs without considering the social and human consequences of the radical elimination of transportation that this entails.
Nobody, in any part of the world, has figured out a way to make money on passenger railroads. It's a matter of social policy.
I can't say I'm an expert on public transport.
We are also ignoring and underfunding high speed rail which is one of the best ways to move citizens and improve congestion on our highways.
North Jersey residents rely on mass transit to get to work and our entire region is interconnected by our transit system.
I rode it a lot before I was governor. I rode the commuter rail for a lot of years, I rode the T for a lot of years, and I talk to people all the time who ride both.
I'm very bullish on the streetcar.
I like the tube more than the NY subway though, you've got cushioned seats.
Bus routes reach the most obscure corners of Paris. There's also the Metro - and especially the great Line No. 1, which runs on tires under the Champs-Elysees and beyond.
