Florida's Energy Bill

On 30 April, I found an article from the Miami Herald detailing their plan to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2016. Apparently, environmentalists are okay with it, but as is always the case in these matters, it depends on who employs the environmentalists. I think this is close to the Kyoto agreement, though the US never ratified it. I'll have to look it up and see.

There were several ideas mentioned that I would not have thought about and at least one - nuclear power lines - that I don't understand. (Maybe they meant more power plants?) The ideas mentioned in the article include (1) energy efficient building kids, (2) renewable fuel standards, (3) adopting California's emission standards, (4) 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2016, (5) telecommuting by state employees, and (6) allowing the utility company to recover costs from efficiency upgrades, nuclear power lines and plants, and investment in renewable fuel sources.

Something I don't see, though I have not seen the entire report, is a rise in public transportation, including electric cars and trains. Jessica and I were going to take the Frex up to Denver this weekend. However, after researching the cost of the tickets - $9 for an adult, 1-way ticket - we concluded that it would be better to just drive our Prius up there. $36 for a family trip to Denver... for starters. It takes $30 to fill the Prius. Simple economics. And a shame. The Frex is a good idea, but under utilized by my estimates. 

Were the price say, $2-3 for a one-way ticket, more people might use the service. The bus holds an estimated 20-30 people (I don't know for sure); so, $60-90 per trip. That probably wouldn't be sufficient for profit. I wonder how much the service would need? 

• The driver, $8 an hour.
  
• The cost of fuel, $4 a gallon. In a bus, possibly 8-10 miles per gallon at 70 miles: $28-$36 per trip.
• Free WiFi for commuters. No clue, maybe $50 per hour as an acceptable rate?

$100 per trip, lets say $150 for expenses that I haven't thought of and for enough profit to reinvest into the project. $150 divided by 20 is $7.50 per person; by 30 is $5 per person.