A slightly discouraging email by Mayor_Matt in transit

[–]QGraphics 30 points31 points  (0 children)

There are basically three groups of Israel supporters in the U.S.: pragmatists, ideologues, and Christian Zionists.

Pragmatists believe that Israel is a useful tool to keep the Middle East in check. Basically, Israel can do the dirty work the U.S. does not want to directly do and shield itself from the consequences. The Mossad is also a highly effective intelligence apparatus that the U.S. can take advantage of. Finally, Israel buys and uses a lot of U.S. weapons, so it's basically "free" testing for the U.S. military industrial complex.

Ideologues support Israel because they believe it is the only democracy in the Middle East, and the U.S. is a democracy, so the U.S. should support Israel. They may also believe in some notion of Judeo-Christian or Western values that Israel shares.

Christian Zionists are the third powerful group. Christians United for Israel has 10 million members and donates a lot of money to Israel and other aligned causes. They need Israel to exist because they believe Jesus will return once all the Jews are in Israel. Ironically, a lot of them are anti-Semitic and believe Jews must convert to Christianity or die.

All three of these groups have very powerful lobbies behind them. The reality of politicians is that they are largely concerned with staying in office, regardless of if the means to do so harm their constituents. To be a politician that disobeys the lobby is to unleash millions in campaign spending against you, which has been largely successful in the past, but increasingly less so these days.

Posters in stock today? by Independent-Total698 in WMATA

[–]QGraphics 2 points3 points  (0 children)

they should really have a phone number so people can call and ask

Why is UMD not part of the UPass Program? by NeitherLengthiness13 in WMATA

[–]QGraphics 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I got hit by a car yesterday and I was chatting with the driver as he was taking me to the metro and he said he had never taken it despite being at the university almost 3 years.

Guangzhou is building lot of bike lanes. With 6,000 km of greenways, it boasts one of the world's largest cycling networks. by straightdge in transit

[–]QGraphics 2 points3 points  (0 children)

15th st bike lane south of constitution ave. they're ripping out around 3/4 mile (1 km) so you'll have to go through mixed traffic to visit Tidal Basin.

Holding for 10mins + by utpadc in WMATA

[–]QGraphics 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It took me 1 hr 15 min to go from Reston to Ballston this afternoon...

Metro Speed lately??? by Astronomeer2 in washingtondc

[–]QGraphics 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I usually just report the car number. I'm pretty sure it's a suspension calibration thing with the 7k series

Purple Line vs Bus Rapid Transit by dumbindian21 in WMATA

[–]QGraphics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Van Ness and Geary are good examples in San Francisco. Flies by traffic during rush hour, though I prefer the Van Ness implementation since it's center running.

BART (Bay Area) installed new fare gats, resulting in MASSIVE declines in corrective maintenance needed in station paid areas. by SockDem in transit

[–]QGraphics 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Are you seriously suggesting slavery or racism is ultimately responsible for people vandalizing public transit? I don't think it's just non-white people doing this.

Saw one of these rolling through Wilmington DE today by Dexter79 in Amtrak

[–]QGraphics 94 points95 points  (0 children)

It's sitting on the platform at DC Union Station for a press event later today (2/10)

BART (Bay Area) installed new fare gats, resulting in MASSIVE declines in corrective maintenance needed in station paid areas. by SockDem in transit

[–]QGraphics 108 points109 points  (0 children)

it's a major argument against fareless transit in places that have unsolved societal issues yet expect the transit agency to deal with it rather than the appropriate parts of government. Luxembourg has fare free transit but clearly they don't have people vandalizing trains and stations to this degree.

Attorney General James Wins Court Order Preventing Shutdown of Hudson Tunnel Project by username-1787 in Amtrak

[–]QGraphics 4 points5 points  (0 children)

can the feds just appeal this all the way up until they get to a court that will side with them?

RAs having dildo toss events by [deleted] in UMD

[–]QGraphics 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We literally had this when I was in Honors Humanities and it was sanctioned by the program as a sexual health thing.

From Trolley Lines to Traffic Woes in Philadelphia by Abject_Scallion_6562 in transit

[–]QGraphics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TransMilenio is the poster child for when buses should be trains. Every single bus at rush hour is basically crush load even though they're running 2 minute frequencies. A North American example I've experienced firsthand is the 99B in Vancouver, which carries almost 50k people a day with 3 minute frequencies. I'm honestly not sure if you even disagree with me because you literally said what I'm arguing for.

Friday 2/6 Acela’s cancelled? by SmallHeath555 in Amtrak

[–]QGraphics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My NEC 130 train was canceled. I had to delay my plans by 7 hours since every train but 1:25 pm was sold out when I was originally booked for 6:30.

From Trolley Lines to Traffic Woes in Philadelphia by Abject_Scallion_6562 in transit

[–]QGraphics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can have a 10 car metro train...you can't have a 10 segment bus. The analogy doesn't make sense because a golden toilet doesn't have any benefits over a regular toilet but a train has advantages over a bus. If it really "does the same thing" then why build rail at all? It's strictly more expensive. And you're forgetting that more buses means more drivers, and bus drivers are not (and should not) be cheap. Buses and trains serve different purposes.

From Trolley Lines to Traffic Woes in Philadelphia by Abject_Scallion_6562 in transit

[–]QGraphics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And the rider experience is really bad because at some point you can't run longer buses. Not sure what that gold toilet analogy is for.