> We have people who can pay to have individual transportation and not have to put up with the minor inconveniences of public transport. Air travel is public t

> We have people who can pay to have individual transportation and not have to put up with the minor inconveniences of public transport. Air travel is public transport and Americans use it all the time. High speed rail has worked fabolous on 1-2h flight distances for decades in many parts of the world. It is preferable in every way to flights: total time, comfort, leg space, security & check in hassle, window sizes & scenery, luggage space and so on. In many areas there are good arguments for why US infrastructure can't be retrofitted into European, but for intercity travel (eg SF-LA-SD or Boston - NYC) all the prerequisites are there. Obviously, I'm under no illusions that it would actually happen due to attitudes, culture, politics and so on.