3 ms·

A plane doesn't have to build and maintain km of tracks, it just uses airport facilities (subsidised usually) and untaxed kerosene. A high speed train can only

• KptMarchewa 5y ago
  A lot of time those tracks are already paid for by freight trains. The track tax is just what governments choose to do - especially since cargo trucks barely pay any road access tax.
  • hgomersall 5y ago
    You can't run an effective passenger service on tracks dominated by freight.
• twobitshifter 5y ago
  For the plane, the start and end of the trip requires a second form of transport to get to the airport itself. So the existence of a plane does rely on some infrastructure. Some futurists are calling for aerotropolis to be built as new city models with the airport as the center of commerce, but most old world cities won’t have this.
  • panick21_ 5y ago
    I think the future we are looking for kind of looks like this: You leave your house and you either jump on an electric bike or a self driving car of some kind. A 1-person 3-wheeled pod car would be very efficient if you are alone. You get to a local mini-airport where electric helicopters transport you to the airport. Or maybe you just take the car to the local airport. Depends on where you live. You jump into a electric plan and fly the city center you want to go to, or you land and jump in a second electric plane (this will happen less often as technology improves). And then you do that same thing backwards to get the your destination.