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{ Category Archives } Transportation

Adventures in travel

We were dropped off at entrance to St. Paul’s union depot about eight in the morning, despite our awareness that the train was already delayed approximately 45 minutes. As we sat in the cavernous hall, along with a growing number of passengers, I researched the internet for information about the status of the train. Amtrak […]

National Passenger Rail

This post is pretty much spot on: Amtrak should build a good train: Amtrak released their new vision for passenger rail expansion in the United States, and I don’t really know what to say except that it sucks. They’re proposing incremental expansion of a national network of slow, infrequent trains that I guess will serve […]

Make Blue America Great Again

Matthew Yglesias has a new blog, Slow Boring, and the first posts I’ve read have been great. I love a hefty dose of commuter rail discussions any day of the week. Check it out! Progressive politics needs ambition Now I hear you saying, “wait wait this started with talking about how we should build social […]

What a well-funded passenger rail system could look like in the Midwest under “Amtrak Joe”

What a well-funded passenger rail system could look like in the Midwest under “Amtrak Joe”: There’s little doubt that one of President-elect Biden’s favorite federal programs is Amtrak, America’s 50-year-old, subpar rail system. While I am very excited that Joe Biden is not Donald Trump – his overall platform is pretty moderate. However, he is […]

Testing the Leaf

A colleague of mine generously lent her Nissan Leaf for us to test drive for the week. We need to answer two questions before we head down the electric car route: Will the range be enough for daily driving in our two car household. Is it cleaner than a hybrid or small diesel. The answer […]

2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Tesla Model S – Motor Trend

2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Tesla Model S – Motor Trend “The 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year is one of the quickest American four-doors ever built. It drives like a sports car, eager and agile and instantly responsive. But it’s also as smoothly effortless as a Rolls-Royce, can carry almost as […]

Raise the gas tax

Great article in Slate magazine about the demand for oil in developing countries. What I always find ironic about the “drill, baby, drill” nonsense is that it basically won’t work to lower our energy costs. If a higher price will be paid for the gas outside of the US – that’s where it will go. […]