As a tourist in CA in 2009, I had to catch a train from LA to SF. I was stunned to find that a train service for these two heavily-populated metropolises only r

As a tourist in CA in 2009, I had to catch a train from LA to SF. I was stunned to find that a train service for these two heavily-populated metropolises only ran every second day. Had to catch a bus to Bakersfield to get a connecting train. Different story on the right coast, where inter-city trains are much more part of life (though yes, the distances are generally smaller). > Why would you sleep on a bus for six-and-a-half hours when you could sleep on a plane for one hour? Well, um, hmmmmm. I’m not actually sure. Because the time from take-off to landing is only one hour, but the time to "catch a plane from X to Y" is considerably more - getting to the airport (usually not in a convenient location), going through check-in/luggage and security, boarding, alighting, luggage collection, getting from the airport to your destination... whereas buses tend to start and finish in the centre of town, where there's usually easy transport everywhere else.