From sokol at jhu.edu Wed Sep 22 09:47:06 1999
Jordan Hayes:
>Well, in terms of energy and noise per unit locomotion, they are
>much better than, say, airplanes or ferry boats. And they are much
>cheaper than, say, BART.
Bullshit, with all due respect.
[ followed by much hand-waving ... ]
Gasoline-powered car use less than 30% of the energy they
consume for locomotion, the memaining two thirds is wasted
as heat.
What does that have to do with anything? Let's put some numbers on it: if it costs $10 to take N people X miles, who cares if $7 of the $10 goes to heat if the next available option costs $20?
Or $70 if it's a cute ferry boat ...
Electrically powered BART is ceratinly more efficient than
that.
Certainly? Are you sure? It turns out that empty autos don't spend any energy. But what about empty BART cars? That's right: they spend plenty. So maybe you didn't listen carefully enough?
Let's try again:
Jordan Hayes:
>Well, in terms of energy and noise per unit locomotion, they are
>much better than, say, airplanes or ferry boats. And they are much
>cheaper than, say, BART.
But let's move on:
That does not include the cost of highways and their
maintenace and policing - which in this country is subsidized
BIG time by Uncle Sam.
Oh, and BART isn't subsidized? Or airports?
'Bullshit' yourself.
/jordan