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Both trains and cars have their place in the transportation landscape It's only ironic because Musk has been so openly hostile towards trains. https://www.wir

Both trains and cars have their place in the transportation landscape It's only ironic because Musk has been so openly hostile towards trains. https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-awkward-dislike-mass-transit/ https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-awkward-dislike-mass-t... “I think public transport is painful. It sucks. Why do you want to get on something with a lot of other people, that doesn’t leave where you want it to leave, doesn’t start where you want it to start, doesn’t end where you want it to end? And it doesn’t go all the time.” “It’s a pain in the ass,” he continued. “That’s why everyone doesn’t like it. And there’s like a bunch of random strangers, one of who might be a serial killer, OK, great. And so that’s why people like individualized transport, that goes where you want, when you want.” When the audience member responded that public transportation seemed to work in Japan, Musk shot back, “What, where they cram people in the subway? That doesn’t sound great.”

justusw 3y ago
Wow… has he been on a train?
- HWR_14 3y ago
  He lived in NYC for a while, so you would have to assume he did. But who knows.
  - palata 3y ago
    Wasn't he always rich af? I would assume he didn't.
    - TheHappyOddish 3y ago
      No. Pre 1999 he cane from a wealthy family but he raised his own money and paid hs own way through university, with hare-brained schemes and internships. In 1999, the company he and his brother founded got aquired for a large sum of money.
robertlagrant 3y ago
> It's only ironic because Musk has been so openly hostile towards trains. Well, to public transport. Presumably Tesla employee transport to the Tesla plant will definitely go where they want it to go!
- fmajid 3y ago
  And yet he is pushing the hyperloop concept, which is a kind of train
  - xorcist 3y ago
    Make no mistake. The hyperloop concept was put forward when California came close to building public transport infrastructure. It was intended to provide arguments against by putting into question if large investments in rail really is future proof. It could be aruged that it is indefensible to build rails at great cost if we might get flying trains tomorrow. And it did indeed work out as intended, at almost no cost.
    - robertlagrant 3y ago
      I'm not familiar. Is there any coverage of this that goes over all of it in a neutral way? I'd hope California wouldn't have done this for no reason, unless they're far more bungling than I realised.
    - fmajid 3y ago
      California's High Speed Rail project does not need political activism to fail, it's doing a good job of it on its own, thanks to America's stunning inability to build non-military infrastructure projects on anything like a reasonable time frame and budget when European peers manage to do so for 1/10 the price.
smcl 3y ago
He's either being deliberately quite dishonest or is genuinely naive in suggesting that "individualized transport" is an alternative to public transportation. At this point I honestly do not know, he's shown himself at times to be both. I'd be curious what he thinks traffic in Tokyo would look like if even half of the commuters on the subway (~80k pph for each train) drove cars around the city instead. I suspect he'd then suggest that a network of new roads be built underground to alleviate this additional traffic, which may work but at that point you'd probably just be better of building some more capacity in the subway network ...
- xorcist 3y ago
  His job is quite literally to sell cars. It doesn't have to make sense.
  - smcl 3y ago
    I didn't say it doesn't make sense. I said he's either dishonest (he's just saying this sort of thing as pro-Car/Tesla PR) or he is naive (he genuinely thinks he can "fix" urban transportation).
- palata 3y ago
  He is rich. He can't really have a clue about how the world actually works. That's why he is either dishonest or naive. We should just not listen to him, IMHO.
  - smcl 3y ago
    Yep I'm with you. But sadly there are plenty of true believers who will always listen to him and will generally nod along in agreement. In this case they'd hold up a picture of a packed subway car and say "wouldn't you rather be cruising along an air-conditioned Tesla?" without really suggesting about how that would work at any scale.
mcv 3y ago
> "And there’s like a bunch of random strangers, one of who might be a serial killer," I think you'll find more killers in cars. Both intentional and unintentional ones.

justusw 3y ago

Wow… has he been on a train?

HWR_14 3y ago
He lived in NYC for a while, so you would have to assume he did. But who knows.
- palata 3y ago
  Wasn't he always rich af? I would assume he didn't.
  - TheHappyOddish 3y ago
    No. Pre 1999 he cane from a wealthy family but he raised his own money and paid hs own way through university, with hare-brained schemes and internships. In 1999, the company he and his brother founded got aquired for a large sum of money.

robertlagrant 3y ago

> It's only ironic because Musk has been so openly hostile towards trains. Well, to public transport. Presumably Tesla employee transport to the Tesla plant will definitely go where they want it to go!

fmajid 3y ago
And yet he is pushing the hyperloop concept, which is a kind of train
- xorcist 3y ago
  Make no mistake. The hyperloop concept was put forward when California came close to building public transport infrastructure. It was intended to provide arguments against by putting into question if large investments in rail really is future proof. It could be aruged that it is indefensible to build rails at great cost if we might get flying trains tomorrow. And it did indeed work out as intended, at almost no cost.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    I'm not familiar. Is there any coverage of this that goes over all of it in a neutral way? I'd hope California wouldn't have done this for no reason, unless they're far more bungling than I realised.
  - fmajid 3y ago
    California's High Speed Rail project does not need political activism to fail, it's doing a good job of it on its own, thanks to America's stunning inability to build non-military infrastructure projects on anything like a reasonable time frame and budget when European peers manage to do so for 1/10 the price.

smcl 3y ago

He's either being deliberately quite dishonest or is genuinely naive in suggesting that "individualized transport" is an alternative to public transportation. At this point I honestly do not know, he's shown himself at times to be both. I'd be curious what he thinks traffic in Tokyo would look like if even half of the commuters on the subway (~80k pph for each train) drove cars around the city instead. I suspect he'd then suggest that a network of new roads be built underground to alleviate this additional traffic, which may work but at that point you'd probably just be better of building some more capacity in the subway network ...

xorcist 3y ago
His job is quite literally to sell cars. It doesn't have to make sense.
- smcl 3y ago
  I didn't say it doesn't make sense. I said he's either dishonest (he's just saying this sort of thing as pro-Car/Tesla PR) or he is naive (he genuinely thinks he can "fix" urban transportation).
palata 3y ago
He is rich. He can't really have a clue about how the world actually works. That's why he is either dishonest or naive. We should just not listen to him, IMHO.
- smcl 3y ago
  Yep I'm with you. But sadly there are plenty of true believers who will always listen to him and will generally nod along in agreement. In this case they'd hold up a picture of a packed subway car and say "wouldn't you rather be cruising along an air-conditioned Tesla?" without really suggesting about how that would work at any scale.

mcv 3y ago

> "And there’s like a bunch of random strangers, one of who might be a serial killer," I think you'll find more killers in cars. Both intentional and unintentional ones.