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by guard-of-terra 3893 days ago
It won't be your own little bubble. You're not going to own a 200MPH autonomous car. You will lease it by hour.

And even that is very far away. Meanwhile trains just work. No high-speed connection between LA and SF is an anomaly by world standards given size, proximity and economical importance of two cities.

Also, modern high-speed trains don't have 4-person compartments (or have those at premium), they are rows of seats not unlike plane business class seats. You usually have power, sometimes wi-fi. You can get coffee and a newspaper.
2 comments
lorenzhs 3893 days ago
ICEs in Germany have 6-person compartments at no extra charge. You can choose where you would like to sit when making a reservation (compartment or open space (table or no?), window or aisle seat?), or hope that there will be empty compartments.
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CamperBob2 3893 days ago
You're not going to own a 200MPH autonomous car. You will lease it by hour.

I don't want to own it. I don't have to own it. The transit authority can own and operate it.

This will be so much better than fixed-track transit it's not even funny.

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guard-of-terra 3893 days ago
Why? I can understand that for short trips but not for 3+ hours.
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CamperBob2 3893 days ago
Let's try an experiment. Let's meet in the lobby of an office building in the middle of downtown LA, and see how long it takes each of us to get to a bar in downtown SF. Loser buys the drinks.

You fly at 500 MPH, I'll drive at 65-70 or whatever the speed limit on I-5 is these days.

I will win this bet, most likely. You will lose. A train won't help you much, if at all, because it's going to embark and disembark on its own fixed schedule, probably in some crappy/scary part of town miles away from where you need to go. (Here's another reason: eventually some terrorists are going to attack the train. The TSA will muscle its way in, and you'll have to arrive at the station an hour or two early, just like we do now when we fly.)

There's just too much hassle and overhead involved in multi-modal transit... which is why people who can afford to drive still do, even when they have alternatives.

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