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The electric, self-driving cars we will certainly have in less time than this rail system could be built will be using existing infrastructure - the highway sys

The electric, self-driving cars we will certainly have in less time than this rail system could be built will be using existing infrastructure - the highway system - to transport us, congestion-free and at higher speeds, to absolutely any city on the map - whether they have a train station or not. Why waste money on a rail system when the whole country is going to look like the car scenes in Minority Report in a couple decades?

rayiner 12y ago
I don't really think that's the future. The most comfortable commute I ever had was the Metro North into Manhattan from Westchester. Can't beat having a bathroom on your commute. Can't beat the physics of rail having lower friction than car tires (especially at higher speeds). In a place like Manhattan, I see self driving cars as a replacement for taxis, not trains. Outside of Manhattan, well who cares about those places?
- brandonmenc 12y ago
  There's a bathroom every half-hour on a highway commute.
  - rayiner 12y ago
    There's a bathroom on the train in a train commute. And other people. And space to get up and stretch your legs.
    - brandonmenc 12y ago
      Rest stops have all of these features. So do busses. And planes. Trains don't have a monopoly on this.
- ghaff 12y ago
  It's hard to say given that 1.) We're talking decades from now and 2.) We would have to make a lot of assumptions about things like how widespread self-driving car availability would affect congestion. What I can say is that driving from my house in Massachusetts to Manhattan today is both cheaper and faster than taking the Acela by the time you count getting to the train station and getting to my hotel on the other end. I still usually take the train as it's more pleasant--at least if it's just me. If I had a driver (AI or otherwise), probably not.
bydo 12y ago
>congestion-free and at higher speeds Neither of these has any chance of being true. Highways near any sort of metropolitan area, or near a spur leading to a metropolitan area, or even often near a connector leading to another major highway, are already massively congested. Autonomous automobiles making even more people want to use them will only make it that much worse. And even safe, self-driving cars operating outside of traffic can only travel at a fraction the speed of rail.

rayiner 12y ago

I don't really think that's the future. The most comfortable commute I ever had was the Metro North into Manhattan from Westchester. Can't beat having a bathroom on your commute. Can't beat the physics of rail having lower friction than car tires (especially at higher speeds). In a place like Manhattan, I see self driving cars as a replacement for taxis, not trains. Outside of Manhattan, well who cares about those places?

brandonmenc 12y ago
There's a bathroom every half-hour on a highway commute.
- rayiner 12y ago
  There's a bathroom on the train in a train commute. And other people. And space to get up and stretch your legs.
  - brandonmenc 12y ago
    Rest stops have all of these features. So do busses. And planes. Trains don't have a monopoly on this.
ghaff 12y ago
It's hard to say given that 1.) We're talking decades from now and 2.) We would have to make a lot of assumptions about things like how widespread self-driving car availability would affect congestion. What I can say is that driving from my house in Massachusetts to Manhattan today is both cheaper and faster than taking the Acela by the time you count getting to the train station and getting to my hotel on the other end. I still usually take the train as it's more pleasant--at least if it's just me. If I had a driver (AI or otherwise), probably not.

bydo 12y ago

>congestion-free and at higher speeds Neither of these has any chance of being true. Highways near any sort of metropolitan area, or near a spur leading to a metropolitan area, or even often near a connector leading to another major highway, are already massively congested. Autonomous automobiles making even more people want to use them will only make it that much worse. And even safe, self-driving cars operating outside of traffic can only travel at a fraction the speed of rail.