Friday, February 14, 2020

Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- February 14, 2020

Light rail, north Texas: one-year anniversary of new light rail from Ft Worth to DFW via Grapevine, TX. Link here.
  • bottom line: "hasn't worked"
  • since 1996, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit has spent $5 billion on the longest light rail in the US
  • in addition, the region has three commuter rail lines:
    • Trinity Railway Express from Dallas to Ft Worth
    • the A-train from Denton to Carrollton
    • TEXRail from Ft Worth to DFW
  • in two years, DART will finish the Silver Line from the airport to Plano
    • forecast: 5,630 riders per day
    • $1.2 billion for the line
    • $220,000 per rider
  • currently:
    • DART averages 1,030 daily light rides per mile of route length
    • Houston: 2,651
    • Phoenix: 1,800
  • costs
    • Orange Line to DFW, finished in 2014
    • 2,975 riders/weekday
    • $1.8 billion
    • $600,000 per weekday rider
  • commuter rail does even worse
    • TEXRail: 1,300 riders per day, one-six the original estimate
    • $1.03 billion
    • $800,000 per weekeday rider
  • cost to ride
    • cost to ride, A-train, 1,400 riders per weekday: $32.62; 96% paid from tax subsidies
    • TRE, 6,600 riders per weekday; each ride 70% subsidized
  • local talk radio noted yesterday that "there are no riders on light rail.
  • I wonder if there has been a cutback in number of trains running
    • I used to see one or two trains every morning on my way into town
    • I haven't seen a train in weeks, seriously -- I don't recall when I last saw a TEXRail commuter train
Samsung, link here:
  • "everyone" keeps talking about how Samsung makes inexpensive phones, unlike Apple which "only" makes high-end phones
  • in fact, Apple is now bringing out smartphones that are considerably less expensive
  • now this: Samsung prices its least expensive new Galaxy smartphone at $1,000 -- even after Apple went lower on iPhone
EPD, link here:
  • old news
  • I assume I posted this, but I can't remember
  • EPD won its appeal against Energy Transfer Partners in the Supreme Court of Texas
  • reported back on February 4, 2020
  • EPD seems to consistently increase its "dividend" by 0.6% to 1.2% every quarter; it currently pays about 6.5%; down a bit today; at $26 today, has a one-year target of $34.40;
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