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Cynical: American's have accepted that the status quo really cannot be improved much due to a variety of factors including cost, politics/NIMBYism and environm

Cynical: American's have accepted that the status quo really cannot be improved much due to a variety of factors including cost, politics/NIMBYism and environmental stuff. We can still innovate on the tech and make a profit by selling it to other countries even if we are utterly incapable of adopting it ourselves. Basically, America is done advancing it's infrastructure for the foreseeable future.

simion314 7y ago
What I seen here on HN from many topics from americans is the fact that they believe that for some reason US conditions are special, is largeror the density is not good enough or the work conditions are worse in other countries, I do not understand why there are not many private minibuses for short distances and nicer(private) buses for medium distances, from what I read here it appears like US has no private transport companies. At least those would work oh the high demand routes. Are there regulations that prevent this or is something more cultural (like only poor guys would use a bus or train). There is the issue that people in HN may live in larger cities and have more money then the average person.
- meddlepal 7y ago
  Well we have Uber/Lyft which are private transportation companies... but that's not what you were thinking of I suspect. > Are there regulations that prevent this or is something more cultural (like only poor guys would use a bus or train). Mostly this. Busses are seen as transport for the poor and American's hate to identify themselves with poverty.
  - simion314 7y ago
    Let me give you examples on what I am thinking of. I live in a village 10Km from a city, there are private companies with buses or minibuses that operate on this route but that also go to villages that may be 50Km away from the city (people work in the city but own houses in the villages, some will do this route daily others only in weekends if they own an apartment in the city ) Many students in my area are studding in larger cities, maybe 300+ Km away (6 hours with a bus or 8 with a train) , there is a large number of private companies on this routes , you have a lot of choices like starting from 4AM until 16PM at every 2 hours there will be a bus (again from private companies). The trains are not as often, maybe only 1 direct train to one of the major cities.
- dahdum 7y ago
  The only private railroad in the country opened a few years ago in South Florida, and is expanding from Miami to Orlando in a few years. Hopefully more will spring up around the country, but I'm not holding my breath. Florida is ideal because both parties are largely pro-development / pro-growth, so the regulatory hurdles are set much lower, and the geology is flat with large amounts of unused land.
- coliveira 7y ago
  Public transportation can only exist with some kind of support from governments (either totally state-run or with some tax incentives). This doesn't exist in the US for ideological reasons. They are bent on providing only private transportation on cars. The sole exception are cities where it would be impossible to live without an option, and even in these cases the support is decreasing, see for example the situation of NYC subway system.
  - simion314 7y ago
    >Public transportation can only exist with some kind of support from governments Are there no profitable routes where private companies can make money? the fuel does not seem to be expensive there, so instead of Uber for a short distance you would have some minibuses for medium distances that you share with 10-15 other people, I know is not for everybody and there are disadvantages but I am curious why won't be profitable
    - mixmastamyk 7y ago
      There are shuttles around transport hubs, and long distance busses.
dahdum 7y ago
This is my view too. Projects like CA's HSR poison the well for public transport across the country. The process is so bloated, corrupt, and fundamentally broken it's easier to pin your hopes on future tech.

simion314 7y ago

What I seen here on HN from many topics from americans is the fact that they believe that for some reason US conditions are special, is largeror the density is not good enough or the work conditions are worse in other countries, I do not understand why there are not many private minibuses for short distances and nicer(private) buses for medium distances, from what I read here it appears like US has no private transport companies. At least those would work oh the high demand routes. Are there regulations that prevent this or is something more cultural (like only poor guys would use a bus or train). There is the issue that people in HN may live in larger cities and have more money then the average person.

meddlepal 7y ago
Well we have Uber/Lyft which are private transportation companies... but that's not what you were thinking of I suspect. > Are there regulations that prevent this or is something more cultural (like only poor guys would use a bus or train). Mostly this. Busses are seen as transport for the poor and American's hate to identify themselves with poverty.
- simion314 7y ago
  Let me give you examples on what I am thinking of. I live in a village 10Km from a city, there are private companies with buses or minibuses that operate on this route but that also go to villages that may be 50Km away from the city (people work in the city but own houses in the villages, some will do this route daily others only in weekends if they own an apartment in the city ) Many students in my area are studding in larger cities, maybe 300+ Km away (6 hours with a bus or 8 with a train) , there is a large number of private companies on this routes , you have a lot of choices like starting from 4AM until 16PM at every 2 hours there will be a bus (again from private companies). The trains are not as often, maybe only 1 direct train to one of the major cities.
dahdum 7y ago
The only private railroad in the country opened a few years ago in South Florida, and is expanding from Miami to Orlando in a few years. Hopefully more will spring up around the country, but I'm not holding my breath. Florida is ideal because both parties are largely pro-development / pro-growth, so the regulatory hurdles are set much lower, and the geology is flat with large amounts of unused land.
coliveira 7y ago
Public transportation can only exist with some kind of support from governments (either totally state-run or with some tax incentives). This doesn't exist in the US for ideological reasons. They are bent on providing only private transportation on cars. The sole exception are cities where it would be impossible to live without an option, and even in these cases the support is decreasing, see for example the situation of NYC subway system.
- simion314 7y ago
  >Public transportation can only exist with some kind of support from governments Are there no profitable routes where private companies can make money? the fuel does not seem to be expensive there, so instead of Uber for a short distance you would have some minibuses for medium distances that you share with 10-15 other people, I know is not for everybody and there are disadvantages but I am curious why won't be profitable
  - mixmastamyk 7y ago
    There are shuttles around transport hubs, and long distance busses.

dahdum 7y ago

This is my view too. Projects like CA's HSR poison the well for public transport across the country. The process is so bloated, corrupt, and fundamentally broken it's easier to pin your hopes on future tech.