Comment by danso | Hacker News Reader

Comment by danso | Hacker News Reader

Paywall seems to be down on this article. Here's the first grafs/opening anecdote for convenience:

> ONTARIO, Calif.—The unsolicited proposal from Elon Musk’s tunnel-building venture arrived in January 2020. To the local transportation authority, it felt like finding Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.

> Officials had started planning for a street-level rail connection between booming Ontario International Airport and a commuter train station 4 miles away, with an estimated cost north of $1 billion. For just $45 million, Mr. Musk’s Boring Co. offered to instead build an underground tunnel through which travelers could zip back and forth in autonomous electric vehicles.

> Dazzled by Boring’s boasts that it had revolutionized tunneling, and the cachet of working with the billionaire head of EV maker Tesla Inc., the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority dumped plans for a traditional light rail and embraced the futuristic tunnel.

> When it came time to formalize the partnership and get to work, Boring itself went underground—just as it has done in Maryland, Chicago and Los Angeles. Boring didn’t submit a bid for Ontario by the January 2022 deadline.

> The six-year-old company has repeatedly teased cities with a pledge to “solve soul-destroying traffic,” only to pull out when confronted with the realities of building public infrastructure, according to former executives and local, state and federal government officials who have worked with Mr. Musk’s Boring. The company has struggled with common bureaucratic hurdles like securing permits and conducting environmental reviews, the people said.

> “Every time I see him on TV with a new project, or whatever, I’m like: Oh, I remember that bullet train to Chicago O’Hare,” said Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack. Boring had backed away from its proposal for a high-speed tunnel link to the airport there.

> Mr. Musk and Steve Davis, president of Boring, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Jalopnik had an article supposing Musk’s Hyperloop was just a ploy to subvert California's high-speed rail project.[1] Hanlon's razor seems applicable here, but that's not necessarily more flattering for Boring. Seems like a case where the hard part of deploying underground infrastructure in major metropolitan areas isn't actually digging through the dirt.

[1] https://jalopnik.com/did-musk-propose-hyperloop-to-stop-cali...

As an example for your last point, boring the tunnels for London's Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) began in May 2009 and was finished by June 2015. But the line didn't open until May 2022.

Amsterdam is infamous. A swamp with centuries old buildings that are classed as monuments.

But on the positive side: subway systems are long term projects. After a few decades everyone but historians will have forgotten the cost and hardships. I'm sure Crossrail will be used by millions of people every year.

Peoe need to stop waving around Hanlon's Razor. Ya know, if you'd just let stupidity qualify as malice like it should, maybe there'd be an actual decrease in the amount of it that goes unresolved.

I feel like stupid is at least quantifiable. We just tolerate a lot of stupid.

> subvert California's high-speed rail project.

HSR is doing a fine job subverting itself. Even if it completes in the optimistic case of 20 years, autonomous electric vehicles are likely to be mainstream. Some possibility of electric planes capable of the SFO/LAX route. With CA's push to renewables and electric vehicles, CO2 differences aren't likely to matter.

HSR will be the slower, lower end, option at a higher price just like Amtrak is now.

I think it's fine to doubt whether HSR will exist. But if the plans are built as designed it will take about three hours from San Francisco to LA: it's hard to imagine any autonomous vehicle matching that speed. Similarly, the problem with flying from SF to LA isn't the choice of plane fueling, it's the hassle of going to the airport and passing through security.

Even eliminating the security and the getting to the airport, there's still the wait to check a bag if you have to check one, the wait to board the plane, the need to be on the plane 15 mins before takeoff or they seal the doors, the wait for everyone to get their stuff out of the overhead when the plane lands, then if you are checking a bag, at the end the wait to get your bag again if it shows up at all. Not to mention it could all go south at any moment, maybe the plane lands at LAX, but then an LAX happens and the pilot says there isn't a gate yet so you twiddle your thumbs on the tarmac for another 45 mins. Oh and then the fact that no airline wants to be straight with you with ticket pricing being dynamic and the whole experience of trying to time buying your ticket at the proper time. Its like they've all taken a playbook from ticketmaster, or maybe satan.

I've never heard of Satan being as evil as Ticketmaster. I think this is insulting to Satan.

I think its even more optimistic to assume autonomous vehicles are likely to be mainstream, much less in 20 years. They don't even exist yet, meanwhile high speed trains are proven 70 year old technology. Electric cars have been out for over 10 years now and they aren't even taking over.

Ha, forgot about all this. The Chicago one seemed perfect for Boring Co. They already did the complicated expensive stuff - the stations were built and sit "ready". An electrical substation is there - unlimited power available on-site. All they need are the tunnels. And if Boring Co can't manage that, what can they do?

They already did the complicated expensive stuff - like build it. It's called the blue line.

Nothing has ever been more obviously fake than that tunnel, when a functional 24h subway already runs the exact route and then some.

an express system to and from the airport would be nice, sort of like the heathrow express

blue line to the loop is a lot of stops and takes almost a hour

would people actually use it/is it worth it? who knows

the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority dumped plans for a traditional light rail

The key purpose of Boring Co pretending to be interested in building in Ontario was always to torpedo this project.

>The unsolicited proposal from Elon Musk’s tunnel-building venture arrived in January 2020

>Boring didn’t submit a bid for Ontario by the January 2022 deadline

Doesn't seem surprising while the world was in the grips of covid with an uncertain end date.

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