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On the other other hand, it should be roughly as easy to link San Francisco and LA as it was to link Madrid and Seville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid-Sev

On the other other hand, it should be roughly as easy to link San Francisco and LA as it was to link Madrid and Seville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid-Sevilla_high-speed_rail_line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid-Sevilla_high-speed_rail_...).

hughprime 17y ago
The main problem with high speed rail in California is that LA isn't really a city, it's just a vast populated basin. You might get dropped at a station called "Los Angeles", but you're probably still an hour's drive from whatever part of Los Angeles you want to be in. Once you've gone through the hassle of renting a car at the station and driving to where you want to be, you might as well have driven all the way from San Francisco.
- Mz 17y ago
  I vaguely recall that LA was served by train when it was first built -- I mean, internally for local commuting purposes. My understanding is that LA was built so spread out because it is in the desert and it wasn't economically feasible to develop it without doing huge swaths at a time because of the cost of infrastructure required to pipe in water from elsewhere. I went to UC-Riverside in the LA basin for 8 weeks. I took the bus down from the SF Bay area and lived without a car the first four weeks. I brought my car the second four weeks. Local bus service was surprisingly good. The area I lived for 8 weeks was surprisingly pedestrian-friendly (except for the small detail that I was threatening to go into anaphylactic shock every time I left the building thanks to the smog). The city in the SF Bay area where I lived for five years or so also had better local bus service and was more pedestrian friendly than many places I have lived. My recollection is that SF Bay is one of the few places in the US where population densities are similar to parts of Europe. If I recall correctly, it also has one of the more heavily used Amtrak lines. I think a lot of folks who are used to driving simply lack the skills and mindset to cope effectively without a car. So they routinely go back to their default and think the solution is either bring your own car or rent one. That isn't necessarily the case.

hughprime 17y ago

The main problem with high speed rail in California is that LA isn't really a city, it's just a vast populated basin. You might get dropped at a station called "Los Angeles", but you're probably still an hour's drive from whatever part of Los Angeles you want to be in. Once you've gone through the hassle of renting a car at the station and driving to where you want to be, you might as well have driven all the way from San Francisco.

Mz 17y ago
I vaguely recall that LA was served by train when it was first built -- I mean, internally for local commuting purposes. My understanding is that LA was built so spread out because it is in the desert and it wasn't economically feasible to develop it without doing huge swaths at a time because of the cost of infrastructure required to pipe in water from elsewhere. I went to UC-Riverside in the LA basin for 8 weeks. I took the bus down from the SF Bay area and lived without a car the first four weeks. I brought my car the second four weeks. Local bus service was surprisingly good. The area I lived for 8 weeks was surprisingly pedestrian-friendly (except for the small detail that I was threatening to go into anaphylactic shock every time I left the building thanks to the smog). The city in the SF Bay area where I lived for five years or so also had better local bus service and was more pedestrian friendly than many places I have lived. My recollection is that SF Bay is one of the few places in the US where population densities are similar to parts of Europe. If I recall correctly, it also has one of the more heavily used Amtrak lines. I think a lot of folks who are used to driving simply lack the skills and mindset to cope effectively without a car. So they routinely go back to their default and think the solution is either bring your own car or rent one. That isn't necessarily the case.