Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Royko — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:45:25 GMT

I waded through the OP-ED. Note: the vast majority of any transit commentary is pro-rail biased.

He fails to deduct the sales tax we all pay, as well as the federal taxes taken from the "producers" so as to subsidize this service he promotes.

Further, since most of us "cowboys" still own cars, we must carry the overhead associated with the vehicle we abandon so as to pertake in the joyous experience of being herded like "sheeple" onto METREAUX's Dystopian tram.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

DominicMazoch — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:03:36 GMT

I just can't see a pigeon with a cowboy hat and spurs....

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Paul R. — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:22:01 GMT

What needs to happen is Metro build a system where we don't need to drive. i.e. More buses and bus routes.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Peter Wang — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:16:01 GMT

Royko, I do not mention light rail at any point in the op-ed. What are you smoking?

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Cedric Collins — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:16:24 GMT

I haven't gone anywhere so let me continue to criticize anything that Royko may say.

Royko said: "...being herded like "sheeple" onto METREAUX's Dystopian tram"

Again? Are you THAT childish, man?! We're PEOPLE and would like to be treated as such---thank you! Do you realize that some people (anybody) may be offended by that statement? Obviously not.

Peter Wang said: "Royko, I do not mention light rail at any point in the op-ed. What are you smoking?"

Ummm---Peter? Do you REALLY want to know that answer? I say---no.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Elizabeth — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:57:56 GMT

Royko said:

"Further, since most of us 'cowboys' still own cars, we must carry the overhead associated with the vehicle we abandon...."

Like Peter said, that "overhead" is reduced dramatically when one uses Metro, van pooling, or car pooling. You even get a break on your car insurance with some companies. I drive about 3 miles to a P&R lot each day, take a bus, and then the rail to work. I run errands on weekends, and that's it for driving. I've had my current car for 3 years and have about 9,000 miles on it. That's not much wear and tear, and my last car (11 years old) is still being driven by my son. This cowgirl has no plans to abandon owning a car, but using Metro to get to work and leaving the car at a lot near home is a win-win the way I see it. Not to mention how much I saw on gas.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

DominicMazoch — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:57:29 GMT

Elizabeth:

I don't think you need to worry about wearing Nomex when it comes to spelling on this blog.

PW:

I think the HC owes you one. The Letters to the Editor, or whatever the HC calls it, is for comments from the public, without an edit on its own. If they wanted to do that, it should be in a box on its own and/or in the area where the Editors makes his/her comments, refering to your, or whoever's comments.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

P&R Rider — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:36:48 GMT

Blog Spelling. I have loaded up the Google toolbar in IE which includes a spell checker. All you do is highlight the text you have typed and click on the spell check button and it flags misspelled words and offers a list of corrections. It is very handy but it would not have found Elizabeth's "saw on gas" since saw is a word.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Peter Wang — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:05:01 GMT

The Chronicle is publishing a correction or mea culpa on Thursday.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Elizabeth — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:13:06 GMT

_ said:

"My bus to downtown doesn't even use the high vacancy lane. Half the time on the bus is going through the neighborhood. If I drove, most of that time would be eliminated, thus conserving time."

For my commute (and my bus does use the HOV lane), I would only save approximately 15 minutes if I drive. Obviously driving doesn't save me a lot of time and it sure causes me a ton of stress. Plus I can read on the bus.

As for Steve's comment:

"That said, I wonder what the safety stats are for riders of trains and buses--which are even bigger than SUVs--versus cars."

Having been on a bus that was broadsided by a garbage truck running a red light years ago, I can tell you that you're way safer on a bus. That truck was going about 35 mph and it hit right by where I was sitting. The bus was totaled, but nobody on the bus had more than a few bumps and bruises. I feel much safer in a bus.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

Peter Wang — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:44:09 GMT

P&R Rider said "You are paying Gexa Green Power an extra amount so you can feel good and tell your friends you are doing your part."

That's not at all true! Yes, everyone gets a mix of electrons from every power station feeding into the Texas grid. Gexa is contractually obligated to put into the grid what its customers use. So the wind gen electrons from Gexa Renewable are displacing demand for electrons from dirty sources. Also, the renewable wholesalers get to book the profits, not a coal plant operator. So that sends market signals to investors to invest in renewable power infrastructure, thereby creating more capacity capable of displacing more dirty electrons.

Capitalism at its finest! What part of that do you not understand?

Now, wind cannot suddenly increase to meet new loads if the wind isn't blowing. So fossil is generating the base load. But why not use as little fossil as possible to generate the minimum base load needed for reliability, and then layer on wind, solar, hydro, tidal?

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

P&R Rider — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:53:31 GMT

I understand the thought process behind renewable power and I agree that the base load plants are Nuclear and fossil with the Nuclear being cheaper to run and that wind adds power to the grid. My point was that the electrons we use in Houston come from the closest plant, none of which are renewable.

The problem with the wind farms is that they are located in West Texas with few people around to use all the power the wind produces. The load centers are in Dallas and Houston which consume huge amounts of power. As more wind generators are added in West Texas, new transmission lines must be built to carry the wind power from the turbines to the load centers in Dallas and Houston. Land owners do not want these lines built on their property.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

P&R Rider — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:09:49 GMT

I know it is for the common good of all Texas power consumers, but from the land owners point of view, they are sitting out between the wind farms and the load centers of Dallas. The lines pass through their property and they derive no benefit. The power is merely transmitted from West Texas all the way to Dallas with none of it siphoned off for local use along the route. Their farm land is somewhat constrained by the tower locations. Then there is the hysteria over EMF. You get more EMF exposure from standing near your toaster in the morning than standing at the edge of a transmission line corridor.

re: Pushing the Cowboy Out of the Driver's Seat

P&R Rider — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:08:43 GMT

Yes the land owners get paid a fair price, but I was speaking of the benefit of using the wind generated power. In that respect they can buy Gexa wind electricity just like you do, but the electrons that are delivered are the plain old fossil generated electrons just like yours.