Reason Weekend 2010: Robert Poole and Adrian Moore on High-Speed Rail Boondoggles

Politicians love to promote large-scale transit projects, and the Obama administration is no exception.

The president's "Livability Initiative" strives to ensure that "transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change." But as Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation, and Adrian Moore, vice president of research at Reason Foundation, explain, the "Livability Agenda" largely consists of trying to push people out of their cars and onto trains and out of the suburbs and into cities.

Poole and Moore dismantle the idea that a centralized, national transit system will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a more "livable" future. There is, they demonstrate, no way such a system will ever be economically viable or able to actually meets its ridership goals.

Approximately 45 minutes.

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This presentation was part of Reason Weekend, an annual conference held by Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.tv. This year's event took place in New Orleans from April 15-18 in New Orleans.