3 ms·
To be frank, a large portion of the US West is utterly devoid of population. The largest city in SD is ~300k in MSA, and the largest city in WY is ~100k. Trying
by jcranmer 3y ago
To be frank, a large portion of the US West is utterly devoid of population. The largest city in SD is ~300k in MSA, and the largest city in WY is ~100k. Trying to make a route to Sioux Falls, SD pretty much means skipping both Minneapolis (3.7M) and Des Moines (700k), while going to Cheyenne, WY means skipping Denver (~3M).
The largest cities not served by Amtrak are Phoenix (although it is indirectly served via Maricopa), San Francisco (though indirectly served via Oakland), Las Vegas, Columbus, Tulsa, Honolulu, and oh look we're out of 1M+ MSAs.
- buildsjets 3y agoLooking forward to the opening of Amtrak service to Honolulu.
- AlotOfReading 3y agoIt's very charitable to describe Phoenix as served by Maricopa station, even indirectly. It's 45min/30mi away on the other side of a mountain range in the middle of the desert. It's not even in the same county.
- bombcar 3y agoThat’s closer than much of LA is to the train stations.
- AlotOfReading 3y agoHonestly, no. That's the distance from the close parts of the city. The equivalent for LA would be Union station being out in Palmdale. The farther parts of the MSA and traffic can add 1-2hrs to that time. LA is pretty well covered overall though, at least by West Coast standards. The biggest hole in the train network is long beach, but there's a lot of transit development happening in that area nowadays.
- jcranmer 3y agoTechnically, the MSA is served, but unlike SF/Oakland MSA via Okland, yeah, Maricopa doesn't really service Phoenix at all.