This project is absolutely ridiculous. The money isn't there. There is no money. Forget about it.

We already have an alternative to flying or driving: government-run regular-speed passenger rail. Not many people using that. Is making it a little faster really going to make that much difference in ridership.

Yes, faster trains get more riders.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority paid for this survey...you really think they would have come up with any other result?

Elect Meg . She will stop this project.

Can Meg (or any other candidate) stop it? Isn't it happening because of a voter mandate from a few years ago? My guess is that there would have to be another ballot measure to stop it.

It was in cronical that the governor makes the final desigon.

The poll was biased - it mentioned the supposed benefits but not the drawbacks of HSR. See the Mercury News story: Web Link

"The Coast Starlight" had 400,000 riders last year. Projected ridership for California's high-speed rail is 88 - 177 million passengers by 2030. That's 220 times as many riders, if we use the 88 million low estimate. A little faster train commute between cities is going to pull in that many more riders?

re: "The poll was biased - it mentioned the supposed benefits but not the drawbacks of HSR."

The Merc story doesn't get into it, but high-speed rail, to get the levels of ridership that are projected, would have to kill off the business of commuter air travel within California. The plan has an unstated goal of destroying local airline-related jobs.

HRS is: A) A Sham, B) A Hoax, C) A Boondoggle, D) A waste of our children's money as well as our own, E) All of the Above

And remember, they aren't lobbying for us, they're lobbying to keep their substantial paychecks. If HSR dies, they become unemployed. THAT has now become the driving force behind HSR. The fact that ridership estimates were almost criminally fudged should have killed it, and hopefully have, no big deal, just what voters used to make their decision

Mike Lawson makes a good point on the effects (if magically successful) of this project. All the commuter air traffic would be going by rail. This is why UC Berkeley Transportation researchers and the CA State auditors say HSR Authority staff (and directors) are 'full of it'. 'Fiscal' explains the more personal motivation - if they can't get more money - their careers are at an end in this field.

It's sad, because the concept is great. But look how poorly Rod D. and his thinking has turned out with the ridership projections and routing of out VTA Light Rail.

Lobby the Gov ['cronicle' comment] and your local state legislature member to not authorize the yearly sale of these bonds. {Fiscal Emergency anyone - remember no budget yet]