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Europe is a very different world than the United States, the US is a county in which long distance rail is decidedly non-viable, nor does anyone have enough tim

by Aloha 7y ago

Europe is a very different world than the United States, the US is a county in which long distance rail is decidedly non-viable, nor does anyone have enough time to take 3 days to travel 1500 miles (which is how long it takes driving or by train - and even longer by bus) - a change like this would essentially put vacations out of reach of the middle class. I'll point out, we don't have as many short range flights as Europe does, and no equivalent to Ryan Air here.

adrianN 7y ago
Average trip distance in the US is not that much longer than in Europe. It certainly doesn't justify driving a truck instead of a smaller car.
thatfrenchguy 7y ago
You can go on vacation in your state too ;-)
- vinay427 7y ago
  In my experience, a lot more Americans who can afford to travel know more people in other regions of the country that they would like to meet than people in most any European country know people in other regions of the continent. It isn't just about choosing to take a pleasure vacation or not, but seeing close family and friends that often aren't in the same state.
- sokoloff 7y ago
  Not as useful when a primary point of the vacation is to get out of a snowbound winterscape and onto a warm beach. Or to visit family who lives in another state.
esotericn 7y ago
Can you quantify "essentially put vacations out of reach of the middle class"? If flying cost twice as much, then people would, at the limit, be able to fly half as often as they do now. If they valued their vacation more than other stuff they could just do it anyway, assuming we're talking about the same "middle class" (e.g. not the poor that spend to their max). But yeah, the whole point is to reduce luxury travel. Jetset vacations are a luxury. We might be able to make them cheap and clean in the future, right now offsetting has a real cost.
irq11 7y ago
”the US is a county in which long distance rail is decidedly non-viable, nor does anyone have enough time to take 3 days to travel 1500 miles (which is how long it takes driving or by train - and even longer by bus)“ The current shinkansen reaches 200mph, with in-development versions going faster. Distance from NYC to LA is 2790 miles (by highway; the straight-line distance is shorter). That’s a bit under 14 hours at 200mph. That’s pretty much the worst case; most people aren’t flying cross-country on a regular basis, and regional flights (e.g. Columbus to Chicago) are a big business. Obviously real trains would be slower than peak shinkansen speeds, but like most train opponents, you are severely exaggerating your argument.

by Aloha 7y ago

adrianN 7y ago

Average trip distance in the US is not that much longer than in Europe. It certainly doesn't justify driving a truck instead of a smaller car.

thatfrenchguy 7y ago

You can go on vacation in your state too ;-)

vinay427 7y ago
In my experience, a lot more Americans who can afford to travel know more people in other regions of the country that they would like to meet than people in most any European country know people in other regions of the continent. It isn't just about choosing to take a pleasure vacation or not, but seeing close family and friends that often aren't in the same state.
sokoloff 7y ago
Not as useful when a primary point of the vacation is to get out of a snowbound winterscape and onto a warm beach. Or to visit family who lives in another state.

esotericn 7y ago

Can you quantify "essentially put vacations out of reach of the middle class"? If flying cost twice as much, then people would, at the limit, be able to fly half as often as they do now. If they valued their vacation more than other stuff they could just do it anyway, assuming we're talking about the same "middle class" (e.g. not the poor that spend to their max). But yeah, the whole point is to reduce luxury travel. Jetset vacations are a luxury. We might be able to make them cheap and clean in the future, right now offsetting has a real cost.

irq11 7y ago

”the US is a county in which long distance rail is decidedly non-viable, nor does anyone have enough time to take 3 days to travel 1500 miles (which is how long it takes driving or by train - and even longer by bus)“ The current shinkansen reaches 200mph, with in-development versions going faster. Distance from NYC to LA is 2790 miles (by highway; the straight-line distance is shorter). That’s a bit under 14 hours at 200mph. That’s pretty much the worst case; most people aren’t flying cross-country on a regular basis, and regional flights (e.g. Columbus to Chicago) are a big business. Obviously real trains would be slower than peak shinkansen speeds, but like most train opponents, you are severely exaggerating your argument.