High speed rail a partisan issue?

With Robyn "Blumñata" no doubt still on the mend after Tuesday's Republican electoral wave, the St. Petersburg Times came up with a nonsensical and byline-less Sunday editorial to take up the slack.

The editorial cautions (Republican) lawmakers not to cease feeding money to the high speed rail project that would connect the Tampa region to Orlando.

The concluding paragraph:

Rail service may have to evolve in Florida, especially amid this down economy. But it presents a tremendous opportunity for the state to grow, ease congestion, link the major cities and tourist destinations and put people to work. Florida rarely gets its fare share of federal dollars, and the state's new Republican leaders should not throw up roadblocks to high-speed rail because of partisan politics. 

 Isn't that kind of like asking Congress not to renew the Bush tax cuts because of partisan politics?  How ridiculous.

The issue with high speed rail is and should always be:  Is it a good idea?  If it loses money because cars remain the more efficient means of transportation then it's a bad idea, period.  If the only way to make the rail trip less expensive (and convenient) than the car trip is to tax the latter to artificially achieve that result then it is likewise a bad idea.

Florida should proceed with high speed rail only when it looks like a method people will prefer in moving from one place to another at the price it's going to take to get there.

It's not a partisan issue.  It's an economic issue.

Where's the high speed rail success story?

WISN 12 News obtained a copy of the Wisconsin DOT federal grant application. The DOT estimated one-way tickets to Madison would range from $22 to $33. But, the conservative Cato Institute calculated the cost to taxpayers would be much higher with a $68 per ticket subsidy, bringing the real cost of a one-way high-speed ticket to nearly a $100.

Not in Wisconsin, evidently.