DEAR EDITOR:
I think Gov. Davis bill to build a $25 Billion dollar bullet
train is a bigger fraud on the taxpayer than even Mr. Thompson
portrayed in his letter.
DEAR EDITOR:
I think Gov. Davis bill to build a $25 Billion dollar bullet train is a bigger fraud on the taxpayer than even Mr. Thompson portrayed in his letter.
Gov. Davis plans to spend $25 billion on a high speed ( 2 1/2 to 3 hour Los Angeles to San Francisco) train paid for by the taxpayers of California. The proposed fare is $90 one way or about what the airlines charge for a one-hour flight.
The real problem is that the interest on this $25 billion will be about $1.25 billion a year and this does not even touch paying off the original $25 billion. Using $10 per ticket sold going to pay the interest means that about 300,000 people will have to ride the train EVERY DAY, EVERY YEAR just to pay the interest on the bonds. The daily air flights carry a fraction of this number daily, so I doubt that the amount of train riders would even come close to the 300,000.
To pay the total bond debt would probably require about 500,000 trip fares per day. Is it even possible to run this many trains and cars in a 24-hour period? I believe that we may be looking at the biggest boondoggle in history of California. If I am correct and this train is the big black money hole I believe, than I would propose naming the train “The Gov. Davis White Elephant Bullet Special.” Is this train really for the people’s benefit or a giant slush fund to pay off all the political hacks in Sacramento?
Jim Hallum, Gilroy
Submitted Friday Oct. 18 to ed****@ga****.com
