4 ms·

Public transit is not the same as Amtrak. A fair accounting for Amtrak has to compare to the bus alternative. I suspect Amtrak is pretty efficient in the NE cor

Public transit is not the same as Amtrak. A fair accounting for Amtrak has to compare to the bus alternative. I suspect Amtrak is pretty efficient in the NE corridor (at 4x the ticket price of buses) due to density, and loses a lot on the long hauls cross country and the rest of the coasts. Also, on the side, remember that non-city dwellers get massive subsidies from city dwellers for their cost ineffective lifestyles. One can argue that this is justified to support the people working in critical agriculture and industry that can't be moved to the cities and we want low sticker prices on, but it's a much hard case to make for suburb dwellers.

JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
Amtrak is a complete joke where I live. Plane tickets are much cheaper, which is absurd. I’d love to ride a train to visit other cities but I can’t unless I’m some sort of masochist. I live within walking distance of an Amtrak stop too.
- beatgammit 7y ago
  I live near SLC Utah, and to get to SF, I'd pay around the same as an airline ticket for coach, but the trip would take 18 hours. If I wanted a sleeper cabin, it costs 2x an coach flight ticket. And this is for 2 tickets, 6 months in advance, which I think has a hefty discount vs individual tickets, especially closer to the trip time. The only way it's cheaper is if I get the "saver" fare, which is a little cheaper, but has no refund if my plans change. I would be happy to pay that if the travel time was better, but it's almost 2x longer than driving and not much cheaper than driving (it's actually more expensive if I'm bringing kids along). Trains were supposed to be more efficient than airlines, so why is taking Amtrak essentially the same price as flying?
  - jessaustin 7y ago
    There is a somewhat competitive market for air travel. Amtrak protects rail freight from any interference from passenger rail. Which isn't a terrible idea, because rail freight is great, but I feel that completely killing any sort of market is going too far. Some sort of competition in passenger rail could really improve life in USA.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Planes are cheaper in a lot of Europe too.
kortilla 7y ago
Where is the evidence that suburb dwellers are subsidized by city dwellers? The South Bay is a giant sprawling suburb and brings in significantly more tax money than it receives.
- kasey_junk 7y ago
  https://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/we-have-always-subsidized-suburbia/ https://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/we-have-always-...
  - kortilla 7y ago
    That article doesn’t say anything about city dwellers supporting unsustainable suburban lifestyles. Mortgage insurance deductions are available to city dwellers as well. FHA loans do very little to support the insanely high house prices in places like Palo Alto and Sunnyvale.

JohnJamesRambo 7y ago

Amtrak is a complete joke where I live. Plane tickets are much cheaper, which is absurd. I’d love to ride a train to visit other cities but I can’t unless I’m some sort of masochist. I live within walking distance of an Amtrak stop too.

beatgammit 7y ago
I live near SLC Utah, and to get to SF, I'd pay around the same as an airline ticket for coach, but the trip would take 18 hours. If I wanted a sleeper cabin, it costs 2x an coach flight ticket. And this is for 2 tickets, 6 months in advance, which I think has a hefty discount vs individual tickets, especially closer to the trip time. The only way it's cheaper is if I get the "saver" fare, which is a little cheaper, but has no refund if my plans change. I would be happy to pay that if the travel time was better, but it's almost 2x longer than driving and not much cheaper than driving (it's actually more expensive if I'm bringing kids along). Trains were supposed to be more efficient than airlines, so why is taking Amtrak essentially the same price as flying?
- jessaustin 7y ago
  There is a somewhat competitive market for air travel. Amtrak protects rail freight from any interference from passenger rail. Which isn't a terrible idea, because rail freight is great, but I feel that completely killing any sort of market is going too far. Some sort of competition in passenger rail could really improve life in USA.
ghaff 7y ago
Planes are cheaper in a lot of Europe too.

kortilla 7y ago

Where is the evidence that suburb dwellers are subsidized by city dwellers? The South Bay is a giant sprawling suburb and brings in significantly more tax money than it receives.

kasey_junk 7y ago
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/we-have-always-subsidized-suburbia/ https://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/we-have-always-...
- kortilla 7y ago
  That article doesn’t say anything about city dwellers supporting unsustainable suburban lifestyles. Mortgage insurance deductions are available to city dwellers as well. FHA loans do very little to support the insanely high house prices in places like Palo Alto and Sunnyvale.