If you voted in 2008 to approve a high-speed rail line from San Diego to the Bay Area, we wouldn't blame you if you felt a little hoodwinked right now. While $55 one-way fare was touted as an alternative to $60 flights between L.A. and San Francisco, the San Jose Mercury News points out that a recent report on the line submitted to the state legislature now puts a one-way fare at $105.

The paper estimates that such a high fare (likely to rise, of course, as we get closer to the opening date of 2035) would be out of reach for a third of the 120,000 riders per day projected to use the system.

“As much fun as high-speed trains are to ride, they would probably never be affordable for vast numbers of Californians,” columnist Thomas D. Elias opines.

“The question is whether Californians feel the system now planned is the one they voted to pay for and whether they still believe it's worthwhile after two years of budget problems like no American state has ever endured,” he writes.

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