6 ms·

You can't have HSR in rural areas. Rural areas, by definition, have very low population density. HSR is horrifically expensive to build and operate, and only

You can't have HSR in rural areas. Rural areas, by definition, have very low population density. HSR is horrifically expensive to build and operate, and only works economically (like here in Japan, where there's lots of it) because there's huge ridership between the large cities it operates between. There's no HSR to rural communities because there aren't enough people riding it frequently enough to make it work, and the people who'd like to use it are too spread out over too large an area for the logistics to work. You can't have a bullet train that stops every 10 miles at some small town to pick people up; you'll end up with an average speed that's too low to even be called "HSR". Your whole post really makes no sense in the real world. It's very simple: if you want the benefits of living in civilization, like medical care, bullet trains, and other infrastructure, you need to move to cities because those are the only places where economies of scale exist to make that stuff work. >And if such a migration is made possible/desirable, other businesses supporting those new residents (apartment buildings, bars/restaurants, cultural activities and a raft of other opportunities will present themselves for other, local, businesses. If you have a place with a bunch of apartment buildings, bars/restaurants, and all this other stuff, what you have is not a "rural area".

nobody9999 3y ago
>You can't have HSR in rural areas. Rural areas, by definition, have very low population density. HSR is horrifically expensive to build and operate, and only works economically (like here in Japan, where there's lots of it) because there's huge ridership between the large cities it operates between. >There's no HSR to rural communities because there aren't enough people riding it frequently enough to make it work, and the people who'd like to use it are too spread out over too large an area for the logistics to work. You can't have a bullet train that stops every 10 miles at some small town to pick people up; you'll end up with an average speed that's too low to even be called "HSR". Your whole post really makes no sense in the real world. Which is why I suggested a hub and spoke system, where the ends of a spoke services several thousand square miles. Nor am I talking about "making stops every ten miles," either. It seems you didn't read my comment very closely and applied my thoughts to systems that exist today. I don't disagree about economies of scale, but there's certainly room for better communication and transportation infrastructure outside urban/suburban metro areas. In fact, over the long term (after both of us are dead, I'm sure) such initiatives could increase economic activity in the US enormously. >If you have a place with a bunch of apartment buildings, bars/restaurants, and all this other stuff, what you have is not a "rural area". Yep. That's true. I never said "rural areas need to stay rural forever." In fact, reviving the economically struggling rural areas necessitates increasing population density and economic activity. And that's a good thing.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  >Which is why I suggested a hub and spoke system, where the ends of a spoke services several thousand square miles. Do you really think people are going to pay ~$200 each way to commute to the city every day? Because that's the kind of ticket price you can expect with HSR. Train systems like that are not cheap to run. They work great here in Japan for traveling between cities, where they're competing with airplanes, but the tickets are not as cheap as you seem to think. Your idea means far more miles of track to build and maintain. >In fact, reviving the economically struggling rural areas necessitates increasing population density and economic activity. And that's a good thing. Why? Just because you like those places? If they were economically viable, they wouldn't need all this help. And if you increase the population density, suddenly it's no longer "rural" but is now a "city", which is exactly what most of the people there don't want, or else they would have moved to a city.

nobody9999 3y ago

>You can't have HSR in rural areas. Rural areas, by definition, have very low population density. HSR is horrifically expensive to build and operate, and only works economically (like here in Japan, where there's lots of it) because there's huge ridership between the large cities it operates between. >There's no HSR to rural communities because there aren't enough people riding it frequently enough to make it work, and the people who'd like to use it are too spread out over too large an area for the logistics to work. You can't have a bullet train that stops every 10 miles at some small town to pick people up; you'll end up with an average speed that's too low to even be called "HSR". Your whole post really makes no sense in the real world. Which is why I suggested a hub and spoke system, where the ends of a spoke services several thousand square miles. Nor am I talking about "making stops every ten miles," either. It seems you didn't read my comment very closely and applied my thoughts to systems that exist today. I don't disagree about economies of scale, but there's certainly room for better communication and transportation infrastructure outside urban/suburban metro areas. In fact, over the long term (after both of us are dead, I'm sure) such initiatives could increase economic activity in the US enormously. >If you have a place with a bunch of apartment buildings, bars/restaurants, and all this other stuff, what you have is not a "rural area". Yep. That's true. I never said "rural areas need to stay rural forever." In fact, reviving the economically struggling rural areas necessitates increasing population density and economic activity. And that's a good thing.

midoridensha 3y ago
>Which is why I suggested a hub and spoke system, where the ends of a spoke services several thousand square miles. Do you really think people are going to pay ~$200 each way to commute to the city every day? Because that's the kind of ticket price you can expect with HSR. Train systems like that are not cheap to run. They work great here in Japan for traveling between cities, where they're competing with airplanes, but the tickets are not as cheap as you seem to think. Your idea means far more miles of track to build and maintain. >In fact, reviving the economically struggling rural areas necessitates increasing population density and economic activity. And that's a good thing. Why? Just because you like those places? If they were economically viable, they wouldn't need all this help. And if you increase the population density, suddenly it's no longer "rural" but is now a "city", which is exactly what most of the people there don't want, or else they would have moved to a city.