Rapid Bus?

In today's fishwrap, Erin Steva of CALPIRG waxes poetic about how Obama needs to spend money on rapid transit.

"Imagine bus rapid transit connecting downtown San Diego to San Diego State University, going through downtown along Broadway, North Park and Hillcrest, and finally, down El Cajon Boulevard through midcity neighborhoods."

Kind of gives you a tingle? NOT! Who rides that route? I did try to imagine it, but all I get are visions of empty vehicles, like the official "rapid bus" pictured above left. Any time I see proposals for the oxymorons "light rail" and "rapid bus," I know to clutch my wallet.

Besides, even if every car on the road was powered by solar, wind or hydrogen engines, would-be socialist central planners would still be against the them because they give Americans freedom to go where they want, when they want. This is anathema to the culture of state planning. So, if we're going to be wasting our grandchildren's inheritance, let's get real and build some decent roads and expand the one's we have.

P.S. I got the picture of the bus from a web site Light Rail Now, that made the case that only 13% of the passengers for LA's "rapid buses" came from people abandoning their cars, the rest were cannibalized from other forms of public transportation.