C'mon, Ride the Train (to Bakersfield?)

So, we’re getting a bullet train after all.

Yay???

And we’re starting it in the Central Valley of California. Really?

I guess you’ve got to start somewhere, but Bakersfield? Really? Who willingly wants to go to Bakersfield?

On the surface, I’m all for us making the leap to new technologies for our railroad systems. And it seems criminal that we’re so far behind on looking to the bullet train to help push us across long distances.

But from LA to Bakersfield? That’s a pretty small sample size right there (and before you start commenting in a huff, yes, eventually it’ll be going from San Diego to San Francisco and Sacramento).

I mean, if we wanted to start somewhere, why aren’t we thinking of desirable destinations such as LA to Palm Springs? Or LA to Las Vegas? (And yes, that’s interstate, but you don’t think the casinos wouldn’t love to pitch in?) Why aren’t we thinking about where the people are – and more importantly – where the people want to go?

The train (especially of the commuter variety) has a hard enough time gaining traction as it is in this part of the country. Think about it: How many times have you hopped on the Amtrak/Metrolink lines in the last year? Five years? Ten years?

No matter the pain at the pump, us Southern Californians are programmed to hop in our cars and drive off to wherever we need to go. We all know that public options are there, but it’s our car, our time and our convenience. The train doesn’t come and go as we please.

Now, for the record, I have used the train multiple times in the past 10 years. A couple of other times while in college as well. We’ve taken off to Del Mar for the horse races. A couple of day trips to Olvera Street and lunch at Philippe. And there have been three or four trips that we’ve connected to Staples Center using the subway.

Each time has been wonderful. It’s great sitting back and not worrying about traffic, wasting gas or paying for parking. But you’re on the train’s schedule. And if you miss one, you may have to wait an hour or two for the next one – if there is a next one that day.

But we come back to the problem from the top: Is the train taking us where we want to go? And when we get there, will be able to get around?

There’s just too much about the whole thing that’s leaving me queasy. It’s probably all the political games that are being played: the federal government’s involvement … the whims of power players trying to get extra for their district, city or county … the placement of stations along the route … the route itself …  I could go on.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that by the time all this gets built, it’ll already be woefully outdated, and we’ll be wondering why we didn’t just go ahead and build the even higher tech option in the first place. (MagLev to Vegas anyone?)

I don’t mean to get too down on the project. We desperately need something to push forward infrastructure upgrades in this state. We’re spending too much time, energy and money putting patches on what we already have (if Caltrans has to go out and repair a local bridge one more time, it’ll be one more time too many).

So, a bullet train to Bakersfield it is, then.

Sigh.