4 ms·

I think this is just the natural evolution of any market. Unfortunately it leads to this. There's not much competition in the railroad market, or the telco mark

by zpeti 5y ago

I think this is just the natural evolution of any market. Unfortunately it leads to this. There's not much competition in the railroad market, or the telco market anymore, which used to be massive spaces for innovation. There are two options: - We have to wait for the next technological revolution. - It is simply just more costly to be an entrepreneur. It's not about throwing together a website or app, it's much more costly to break through the existing monopolies. While you can still make a website or app yourself, I think you do need more and more capital to market it.

ant6n 5y ago
There's competition in the railroad market in the EU,because they want there to be a market. In particular they mandate separation of infrastructure and operation, and force rail infrastructure owners to give open access to all (for a toll, which has to be the same for all operators). Once you can't use infrastructure as a moat, competition is much more possible. The US which only regulates rail safety but not the market, has a bunch of local monopolies and calls that a market, being in total denial that markets need to be regulated to actually allow competition.
- the-dude 5y ago
  Are there any indications that a market for rail is actually more efficient?
  - Ericson2314 5y ago
    It's not! One of the end results is taking trains across national borders is way more annoying than it should be. That in turn I believe has lead to warped statistics on the viability of rail for long distances!
    - ant6n 5y ago
      International passenger rail is a bit of a niche of the overall rail market, but if you compare north America to Europe here, Europe is doing much better.
  - eitland 5y ago
    Maybe not yet, but as someone who lived through the annoying breakup of the telecom monopoly in Norway I'd never ever go back. I guess this will be the same. In 1998 I remember having to dial 1521 or something before the number I was planning to dial to use the cheaper minutes with the competitor. I also remember having to learn to use 8 digit numbers for everyone instead of using 5 digit numbers locally. Annoying, but forgotten 4 years later when you didn't have to prefix numbers anymore and we got cell phones with contact lists. Same will happen with rail I guess. Annoying today, but I guess 4 years from now no one on their right mind will ever want to go back. Oh, BTW, the same with the mail monopoly. A lot of complaints, but the result is I can now get my packages shipped overnight. I literally contacted my broadband provider on chat a Sunday afternoon during the last 30 days and had a new modem in my mail as I woke up the next morning. No way that could have happened with the old telecom and mail monopolies in place.

by zpeti 5y ago

ant6n 5y ago

There's competition in the railroad market in the EU,because they want there to be a market. In particular they mandate separation of infrastructure and operation, and force rail infrastructure owners to give open access to all (for a toll, which has to be the same for all operators). Once you can't use infrastructure as a moat, competition is much more possible. The US which only regulates rail safety but not the market, has a bunch of local monopolies and calls that a market, being in total denial that markets need to be regulated to actually allow competition.

the-dude 5y ago
Are there any indications that a market for rail is actually more efficient?
- Ericson2314 5y ago
  It's not! One of the end results is taking trains across national borders is way more annoying than it should be. That in turn I believe has lead to warped statistics on the viability of rail for long distances!
  - ant6n 5y ago
    International passenger rail is a bit of a niche of the overall rail market, but if you compare north America to Europe here, Europe is doing much better.
- eitland 5y ago
  Maybe not yet, but as someone who lived through the annoying breakup of the telecom monopoly in Norway I'd never ever go back. I guess this will be the same. In 1998 I remember having to dial 1521 or something before the number I was planning to dial to use the cheaper minutes with the competitor. I also remember having to learn to use 8 digit numbers for everyone instead of using 5 digit numbers locally. Annoying, but forgotten 4 years later when you didn't have to prefix numbers anymore and we got cell phones with contact lists. Same will happen with rail I guess. Annoying today, but I guess 4 years from now no one on their right mind will ever want to go back. Oh, BTW, the same with the mail monopoly. A lot of complaints, but the result is I can now get my packages shipped overnight. I literally contacted my broadband provider on chat a Sunday afternoon during the last 30 days and had a new modem in my mail as I woke up the next morning. No way that could have happened with the old telecom and mail monopolies in place.