Rail deserves air travel’s breaks
IN a Dec. 18 letter, Rick DeForest responds to Arthur Frommer’s piece [“Are Amtrak’s Days Numbered?” On a Budget, Dec. 11] and compares airfare ($116) versus Amtrak ($189) between L.A. and Tucson.
What would be the real airfare if we factored in the subsidies provided to the airlines by the taxpayers -- airport construction, FAA air [traffic] control, weather service, bankruptcy bailouts?
Bullet trains and competitive prices will exist only when Congress and the president join the rest of the industrialized world and provide realistic subsidies for passenger rail service.
DON HATCH
Camarillo
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