Randal O’ Toole of The Austin American-Statesmen cleverly argues in his article, titled “Buses are a better bet than rail for Austin”, that the planning of a light rail line in Austin is a waste of tax-payers’ money and that it is a poor transit choice for the general Austin community. O’Toole is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute and author of “The Worst of Both: The Rise of High-Cost, Low Capacity Rail Transit”. His intended audience includes the tax-paying citizens of Austin, but more specifically, the tax paying citizens of Austin who are more likely to be reading his article in the daily newspaper.  The tax paying citizens who read the newspaper are older, wealthier, car-owning citizens who are very unlikely to ever use the proposed light rail line. In his article, O’Toole presents sound statistical evidence of the high cost and low efficiency of light rail lines compared to buses in order to gain the support of his readers in opposition to the proposal.  He presents shocking figures, for example, the light rail line “will cost close to $150 million per mile”, but the MoPac Express Lanes “are costing less than $20 million per mile.”  Additionally, O’Toole points out that “the trains will average only about 22 miles per hour” and that “buses on express lanes can go 60 miles per hour.”  I did notice, however, that he failed anywhere in his article to mention the environmental impact of light rail lines versus buses. Hmm…I guess he didn’t want the average 60-year-old newspaper reader remembering to consider environmental impacts. The logic he presents is simple: it costs more, and isn’t worth it.  I would have to say that Randal O’Toole presented his argument in a clever manor to predictable readers who are very likely to agree with the points he made.