Sprinter Update

From SDrosta:

The Sprinter update!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

posted by Jerome Stocks 

 

The final accounting for the Sprinter rail project is in. The final federally approved budget was $484.1 million dollars, and the project is now closed out. The final tab was $477.628 million.

The Sprinter opened for service to the public in March of 2008,  was the lowest cost per mile rail project in the U.S.A., moves a lot more people than the bus routes it replaced using fewer employees, and has an excellent on-time performance record.   

On another, somewhat unrelated note, the Board of the North County Transit District voted on September 16th to reduce fares to the riding public on a promotional basis for the year 2011. It’s nice to have a public agency reduce fares instead of increasing them!


Poway Roger says:

September 23, 2010 at 6:41 pm

As I recall, the Sprinter was quite a bit over budget (Correct me if I am wrong here). While the “Final” budget might be more than the actual tab, when you keep adjusting figures up and up, of course the Sprinter will look like a financial boom.

But let’s look at the original price tab and then compare it to the final tab and then ask yourself if it was really worth it.

DUDEBRO, sucks to be called out by a real conservative who has the balls to speak his principles.

1. Richard Rider says:

   September 24, 2010 at 12:27 am

   The projected Sprinter ridership was 12,000 — I believe it is running at under 7,000. Over 3/4 of the ridership are former bus riders, and does not have the flexibility of bus transportation.
   The Sprinter backs up traffic as it crosses various roads. That wastes time, and increases auto fuel consumption.
   So why spend almost half a billion dollars to get maybe sixteen hundred car riders off the road per day? That’s less than the typical one year increase in Hwy 78 traffic.
   
2. Richard Rider says:

   September 24, 2010 at 12:57 am

   Of course, the sadly humorous part is this puff piece touting the efficiency of the Sprinter. It gives the absurd impression that this train construction actually came in slightly UNDER budget. Au contraire!
   When the Sprinter was first envisioned 20 years ago, the projected cost was around $50 million. When construction grew closer, it was more like $160 million. It came in at just under $500 million.
   Stocks talks about the purported low cost of operation — but ignores the sky high capital cost, with no sinking fund for equipment replacement. The nuttiness of the Sprinter becomes apparent when comparing the total taxpayer per passenger mile cost of the Sprinter with the cost of subsidizing bus transportation — including the amortized capital costs of both modes.
   
3. Richard Rider says:

   September 24, 2010 at 2:26 pm

   I must apologize for my first post. I think I misrepresented the effect of the Sprinter.
   I said that the Sprinter would remove “maybe sixteen hundred car riders off the road per day.” I now realize that could be interpreted as 1,600 cars off the roads. OOPS!
   Assuming people using the Sprinter (or driving) are doing round trips, that’s only 800 cars a day removed from the North County roads. And in turn that 800 figure is too high because it assumes that there’s only one person per car. The average is a bit over 1.2 persons per car.
   Again, my apologies for my sloppy implication concerning the benefit (albeit limited) of the Sprinter train service.

See Also:
Jerome Cheats Another Award Process for the Sprinter
More Mail Order Awards
Sand Lobbyist Awards Own Project