This is just as true for any BR transit effort

Wont work in the south because white people think anything used primarily by minorities is trashy.

Mass transit is a massive waste of money outside of extremely dense northeastern cities.

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Wont work in the south because white people think anything used primarily by minorities is trashy.

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I don't know if this is true. When I go to Chicago or Wisconsin, I'm more than happy to take public transit. Most blacks, whites, and other minorities are pretty much equal share riders. However, I'm not sure that they're necessarily equal on the socioeconomic scale as down here.

It's that down here we live in Baton fricking Rouge. This place is tiny. Where's a rail going to go? LSU to Downtown? Big whoop. And the reason why whites may not take it is because it'll likely cater to the least common denominator of society. And that can bring about unsafe conditions. Look, it's the truth.

You put a commuter rail between Nola and Baton Rouge and people will use it CONSTANTLY. You allow stops in Prairieville, Dutchtown, get a spur from Walker and Denham and allow people to move into and out of the city as an alternative mode of mass transit that's reliable and fairly inexpensive, then it'll get used.

Small cities, especially 'newer' southern cities, are nowhere near dense enough to support a full network of public transit.

At least not yet. I guess there might be a sense of 'if you build it, they will come' but the data on Charlotte in that article argues otherwise.

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you think enough to be worthwhile?

I think we are used to having vehicles wherever we go and freedom to go when we want and where we want...I don't know many people that would give that up.

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I know I would use it initially because it's a progressive idea. It's something that could be beneficial but it also has to make sense for the commuter. Is it going to make eleventeen stops and only go 55 MPH at top speed? That defeats the purpose. Is it going to go 120 MPH and make fewer stops? Then I'm all ears.

But the destinations are the problem too. What do people do once they get to Baton Rouge? Where are they going to walk? How are they going to get to their destinations?

In bigger cities there are lots of modes of transportation. You can walk almost anywhere. Some cities have bike docks where you can rent a bicycle. Or you can Uber and Lyft. We hardly have sidewalks and most drivers are jerks who don't share the road. I'm one of them. I hate sharing the road when I'm in my car but if I'm on my bike, I'm hating all cars. I still yield to all car movements, though.

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because white people think anything used primarily by minorities is trashy.

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have you ever ridden MARTA?

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I know I would use it initially because it's a progressive idea. It's something that could be beneficial but it also has to make sense for the commuter. Is it going to make eleventeen stops and only go 55 MPH at top speed? That defeats the purpose. Is it going to go 120 MPH and make fewer stops? Then I'm all ears.

But the destinations are the problem too. What do people do once they get to Baton Rouge? Where are they going to walk? How are they going to get to their destinations?

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It all depends on where you're going. When I've been to Chicago, NYC, and other places with public transit, I always use them. Even Honolulu has a decent bus system to take you to many popular spots. We took Amtrak from Bhm to NOLA several years ago, and just grabbed a cab to the quarter and walked everywhere. The roundtrip ticket for both of us was going to be cheaper than paying for gas and driving, and paying hotel parking for 3 nights. Plus we'd never taken a train trip before. Kick back and relax instead of dealing with interstate. That appeals to me. I wish Birmingham had a decent transit system. It would be great to get to/from the suburbs to downtown.

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So how much money would the taxpayers have to fork up to make it feasible?

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This is an important question, but remember that we don't usually ask that same question of other transportation infrastructure projects.

How much does an interstate cost to build, maintain, and upgrade, etc? What about environmental costs? What about opportunity costs for people who spend lots of time in traffic, compared to a mass transit system that might be substantially quicker? What about other revenue streams like advertising renting space for retail outlets that would enhance the ride, such as car/bike rental shops, restaurants, merchandise stores, etc.

I think that it takes a different perspective all around, but expecting a rail project to be self-sustaining financially is holding that form of transportation to a different standard than highways, bridges, ferries, and even airports which don't always operate for a profit.

Amtrak is heavily subsidized. That's why the numbers worked out so well for you.

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Wont work in the south because white people think anything used primarily by minorities is trashy.

Mass transit is a massive waste of money outside of extremely dense northeastern cities.

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1. Southern white ppl are trashy so they should love it.
2. Most transportation systems in the US are complete crap and run by inept politicans that hand out bad contracts and are the reason for the cost overruns. For example Amtrak needs a ~15% budget subsidy from the US government to break even every year, but it pays an average of $41.19/hr for labor. Other railroads pay min wage -~$13.00/hr. Another example is the LSU bus system, look at the improvement it saw when it was taken away from CATS and given to a private company to run. It got much better and was actually a decent service.
3. Public/mass transit systems like Portland's (mentioned in the OP article) cost alot of money and require alot of political will. You can't just lay dow a light rail, BRT line or commuter/intracity rail (i.e. BR-NOLA commuter rail line) and expect it to work. That one line might be awesome, but unless you live and work on that line it is not an option. Since most public transportation systems suck arse (see #2) and/or mismanaged so ppl don't want to support them or pay for them. So it is very much a chicken and egg sort of thing. That is why we need passenger rail deregulation. LEO Express is a private rail company from the Czech Republic that took over some routes there and cut costs by 50% and improved service. They have even partnered with Uber and some private bus companies to create an entire private mass transportation network. LEO Express has expressed interest in taking over some Amtrak routes here and if they get a workable rail, uber, private bus company network then it will work. If public transportation is left in the hands of government agencies it will always suck.
4. All transport (cars and highways included) is a waste of money and there is one reason and one reason only government mismanagement and government handling the contracts.