LETTER: Brightline ridership projection seems a tad high

While I certainly applaud James McDonald’s optimism (May 12 letter to the editor) about Brightline being more efficient than California’s Los Angeles-to-San Francisco rail boondoggle (of epic proportion) because it’s a private company, allow me to point out a very interesting statistical forecast: Brightline’s prognostication of 11 million one-way riders a year.

The train will start in Rancho Cucamonga, with stops at Victorville, Hesperia and Las Vegas (sorry, Baker). While I’m sure those burgs are fine places to visit, I don’t know if it will be to the tune of 30,000 people every single day, every day of the year — which is what 11 million riders a year averages out to be.

This certainly seems like a mighty optimistic projection, even for a private company. Wonder how Brightline officials arrived at such a lofty number? Or is it really just a matter of build now, backpedal later?