3 ms·

Key graphic: https://www.trbimg.com/img-5b0779e9/turbine/la-pol-g-ca-usc-poll-bullet-train_web_2/ https://www.trbimg.com/img-5b0779e9/turbine/la-pol-g-ca-usc-..

by d4l3k 8y ago

Key graphic: https://www.trbimg.com/img-5b0779e9/turbine/la-pol-g-ca-usc-poll-bullet-train_web_2/ https://www.trbimg.com/img-5b0779e9/turbine/la-pol-g-ca-usc-... 31% for, 48% against, 19% undecided for all Californian voters.

Hydraulix989 8y ago
Also worth noting the huge disparity between Bay Area voters (overwhelmingly FOR continuing the project) vs. LA voters (this is an LA Times article).
- jessaustin 8y ago
  Is LA Times against it because LA residents are, or are LA residents against it because LA Times is?
  - ubernostrum 8y ago
    People think of California as one of the bluest blue states, but it's very far from homogeneous. The LA metro area, for example, contains several affluent and strongly Republican communities, which means that if you poll educated/affluent/traditional-news-reading people in that area you're going to get results that lean more conservative than what people often expect (and Republicans/conservatives in the US are generally against public transit and public-works projects). You can get the same thing in the Bay area if you poll in the right places. See Atherton's lawsuits to try to stop Caltrain electrification, for example.
    - Hydraulix989 8y ago
      Politics aside, is there any more practical reason Bay Area would prefer to have this train more than LA (e.g. people in Bay Area visit LA more often than people in LA visit Bay Area)?
      - ubernostrum 8y ago
        SFO and LAX send a lot of traffic to each other (each one is the other's top domestic destination), and there doesn't seem to be a directional preference: https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=LAX&carrier=FACTS https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=LAX&... https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=SFO&carrier=FACTS https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=SFO&... There may be a practical argument that the HSR would make it easier to commute to SF from further away, which might relieve housing pressure a bit. But I really do think it mostly comes down to politics, and to there being more people in the SF area whose politics lean toward public transit/public works than in the LA area.

by d4l3k 8y ago

Hydraulix989 8y ago

Also worth noting the huge disparity between Bay Area voters (overwhelmingly FOR continuing the project) vs. LA voters (this is an LA Times article).

jessaustin 8y ago
Is LA Times against it because LA residents are, or are LA residents against it because LA Times is?
- ubernostrum 8y ago
  People think of California as one of the bluest blue states, but it's very far from homogeneous. The LA metro area, for example, contains several affluent and strongly Republican communities, which means that if you poll educated/affluent/traditional-news-reading people in that area you're going to get results that lean more conservative than what people often expect (and Republicans/conservatives in the US are generally against public transit and public-works projects). You can get the same thing in the Bay area if you poll in the right places. See Atherton's lawsuits to try to stop Caltrain electrification, for example.
  - Hydraulix989 8y ago
    Politics aside, is there any more practical reason Bay Area would prefer to have this train more than LA (e.g. people in Bay Area visit LA more often than people in LA visit Bay Area)?
    - ubernostrum 8y ago
      SFO and LAX send a lot of traffic to each other (each one is the other's top domestic destination), and there doesn't seem to be a directional preference: https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=LAX&carrier=FACTS https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=LAX&... https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=SFO&carrier=FACTS https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=SFO&... There may be a practical argument that the HSR would make it easier to commute to SF from further away, which might relieve housing pressure a bit. But I really do think it mostly comes down to politics, and to there being more people in the SF area whose politics lean toward public transit/public works than in the LA area.