4 ms·

Well, in America almost everyone has a car and there's a road system that will take you anywhere you want to go. Americans don't like public transport overall,

Well, in America almost everyone has a car and there's a road system that will take you anywhere you want to go. Americans don't like public transport overall, for reasons such as privacy, being able to play your music over the speakers, not having to smell the person next to you, having an interior you choose, taking the route you choose, being able to stop at Wendy's when you want, leaving to go and coming back on your own time rather than the train's... This list is much longer in reality. Plus there are planes for long distance which are already cheaper to fly San Francisco to LA than the ticket on the yet to be built train.

CaptainZapp 8y ago
Americans don't like public transport overall That, and probably the unwillingness to fund public infrastructure projects with tax money. Which, unfortunately, is inevitable with projects of such magnitude. Well, in America almost everyone has a car and there's a road system that will take you anywhere you want to go That's not different than any European country, which offers high speed rail (or a dense, interconnected rail system where HSR is not really viable, like Switzerland). If anything and in my experience roads are usually better maintained in Europe. But that's probably the same problem. Maintenance costs (tax) money and that seems to be a dirty word to a lot of Americans.
- yostrovs 8y ago
  You're wrong about car ownership in Europe vs U.S. In America there's basically 1 car per person, in Europe there's one car per two persons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_... The statistics come from different sources and times, but that's what I have to work with and I don't think the true numbers are much different from this. It's also important to note that the culture in America is quite different in Europe regarding personal space, freedom to drive endlessly and on your own time, and having the place to do these things. Europeans are used to adjusting themselves to the train's schedule, leaving the party because the last train is coming, standing on the platform and waiting for it to arrive, and cancelling plans when the train drivers union decides to go on strike. These things frustrate an American, and that is because cars have been around for about 100 years in America and people have come to expect the freedoms that cars bring them.
  - HillaryBriss 8y ago
    > ... people have come to expect the freedoms that cars bring them this idea has some truth, but ... with higher population densities and traffic, the amount of freedom a private car offers diminishes significantly. if the rules of the road were changed in California -- if taxes, fees, insurance and fuel costs went high enough, if metered lanes on freeways charged enough, individual car ownership would become much less desirable, even to Americans. people, even US people, would adapt and the whole system might finally be arranged so that commuters could arrive at work on a reliable time schedule.
    - yostrovs 8y ago
      Again, hard to argue against wild speculation. The train is being built within our current reality and people's desires are part of that reality. Arguably, the freedom that cars provide is an incredibly powerful and beneficial thing for the happiness of Americans.
      - HillaryBriss 8y ago
        I'm not speculating about this: I and thousands of daily commuters have noticed that driving a car on the Hollywood freeway in rush hour does not feel like an experience of freedom. At least some of those commuters find the Metro red line to downtown, which runs on a fairly reliable schedule, arrives more quickly and does feel like an experience of freedom, by comparison. Another non speculative observation: at least some Americans who move to NYC find that selling their car is a liberating experience. Also, not having a car, is, in some ways a way to gain some freedom: insurance and maintenance burdens decrease, time and effort to park the vehicle are eliminated, etc
- taobility 8y ago
  This basically a chicken and egg dilemma. In some cities of US, like LA, you can't live without a car. If there is a convenient public transportation, I would prefer to take subway if the daily commute is more than 1 hour.
- taobility 8y ago
  meanwhile, for the travel less than 1000 miles, I would prefer high speed train instead of flight, or driving by myself. As by train, it has more advantage, like comfortable seat than flight, less stressful than driving, closer to destination etc, if you have any experience by traveling with HST, you would know that. Most Chinese travel between Beijing and Shanghai, two biggest and busiest cities in China, have already proved that.

CaptainZapp 8y ago

Americans don't like public transport overall That, and probably the unwillingness to fund public infrastructure projects with tax money. Which, unfortunately, is inevitable with projects of such magnitude. Well, in America almost everyone has a car and there's a road system that will take you anywhere you want to go That's not different than any European country, which offers high speed rail (or a dense, interconnected rail system where HSR is not really viable, like Switzerland). If anything and in my experience roads are usually better maintained in Europe. But that's probably the same problem. Maintenance costs (tax) money and that seems to be a dirty word to a lot of Americans.

yostrovs 8y ago
You're wrong about car ownership in Europe vs U.S. In America there's basically 1 car per person, in Europe there's one car per two persons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_... The statistics come from different sources and times, but that's what I have to work with and I don't think the true numbers are much different from this. It's also important to note that the culture in America is quite different in Europe regarding personal space, freedom to drive endlessly and on your own time, and having the place to do these things. Europeans are used to adjusting themselves to the train's schedule, leaving the party because the last train is coming, standing on the platform and waiting for it to arrive, and cancelling plans when the train drivers union decides to go on strike. These things frustrate an American, and that is because cars have been around for about 100 years in America and people have come to expect the freedoms that cars bring them.
- HillaryBriss 8y ago
  > ... people have come to expect the freedoms that cars bring them this idea has some truth, but ... with higher population densities and traffic, the amount of freedom a private car offers diminishes significantly. if the rules of the road were changed in California -- if taxes, fees, insurance and fuel costs went high enough, if metered lanes on freeways charged enough, individual car ownership would become much less desirable, even to Americans. people, even US people, would adapt and the whole system might finally be arranged so that commuters could arrive at work on a reliable time schedule.
  - yostrovs 8y ago
    Again, hard to argue against wild speculation. The train is being built within our current reality and people's desires are part of that reality. Arguably, the freedom that cars provide is an incredibly powerful and beneficial thing for the happiness of Americans.
    - HillaryBriss 8y ago
      I'm not speculating about this: I and thousands of daily commuters have noticed that driving a car on the Hollywood freeway in rush hour does not feel like an experience of freedom. At least some of those commuters find the Metro red line to downtown, which runs on a fairly reliable schedule, arrives more quickly and does feel like an experience of freedom, by comparison. Another non speculative observation: at least some Americans who move to NYC find that selling their car is a liberating experience. Also, not having a car, is, in some ways a way to gain some freedom: insurance and maintenance burdens decrease, time and effort to park the vehicle are eliminated, etc
taobility 8y ago
This basically a chicken and egg dilemma. In some cities of US, like LA, you can't live without a car. If there is a convenient public transportation, I would prefer to take subway if the daily commute is more than 1 hour.
taobility 8y ago
meanwhile, for the travel less than 1000 miles, I would prefer high speed train instead of flight, or driving by myself. As by train, it has more advantage, like comfortable seat than flight, less stressful than driving, closer to destination etc, if you have any experience by traveling with HST, you would know that. Most Chinese travel between Beijing and Shanghai, two biggest and busiest cities in China, have already proved that.