It's just like when birds get used to eating food fed to them by people at outdoor cafes, and then can't survive in the wild if the people go away! BRILLIANT!

 

i support higher gas taxes because its a user tax. income tax is ****ing stupid. besides, higher gas prices = less donks.

 

currently 70% of US electricity is produced by... burning fossil fuels. just because you pay an extra $6/month to sleep better at night doesn't mean that all electricity generated is by renewable resources. as long as this country is dependant on gasoline, diesel will always be plentiful as it is a byproduct of the refining process.

most cities already have vehicles from different manufacturers. sacramento, for example, has two or three different types of cars. spare parts and maintenence wouldn't be a problem as the facilities are already set up to deal with differences.

BART currently uses 1000v DC via a third rail. that is far less efficient than a more modern 750v AC overhead wire. so since something better has come along, maybe they should replace that?

as i said earlier, the efficiency from light rail comes from regenerative braking. it's pretty similar to what hybrid cars use. that works great when the train stops every city block or so. for a non stop stretch it's not as efficient. the cost of electrified rail is super expensive compared to standard rail. it's the substations and catenary wires that cost a ton.