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by rglullis 437 days ago
> EU country is quite a bit smaller than the average US state

You don't need to drive cross the whole state for your daily commute, do you?

> along with the EU being more densely populated

Reversing cause-and-effect, here. Suburban sprawl happens because of the car-centric development, not the other way around.
1 comments
charcircuit 437 days ago
>You don't need to drive cross the whole state for your daily commute, do you?

I've done this before in America. It's over twice as cheap to drive than take a train.

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n4r9 437 days ago
It must depend on the cities and how far in advance you can book.

I just checked on Amtrak and you can get a train from Seattle to Spokane for $37 in July. This website suggests a comparable cost for driving: https://www.travelmath.com/cost-of-driving/from/Seattle,+WA/... . That seems to be based purely on fuel costs, not counting the marginal costs of insurance and maintenance.

Using the same method, I can get Amtrak from Seattle to Chicago at $169, vs $300 drivings costs.

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rglullis 437 days ago
For your commute?

Yeah, I can also take a plane from Germany to England and pay less than what it costs me for the taxi that I will need to get to the airport. Does that mean that flying EasyJet should be considered the most efficient means of transportation?

What exactly are you trying to argue, here?

- That the cost of one train ticket is higher than the cost of a car trip?

- For one single passenger or for a family?

- In the US or overall?

- Are externalities factored in?

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charcircuit 437 days ago
>What exactly are you trying to argue, here?

I'm arguing that in America the only reason to take a train for me is for the novelty factor. Novelty isn't enough to garner a ton of investment to get rail built.

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rglullis 437 days ago
> The only reason to take a train for me is for the novelty factor.

Sure, if you are willing to disregard all of the environmental and health costs associated with car-centric development, then there is no reason to invest in rail.

If you are willing to ignore the more than 40 thousand people that die on car crashes per year in the US, then there is no reason to invest in rail.

If you are willing to ignore the fact that all cities are going bankrupt because they don't get enough in property taxes to maintain the roads and basic infrastructure in the suburbs, then there is no reason to invest in rail.

If you don't care about the fact that your kids are growing completely isolated because they can't go anywhere unless they have someone driving them around, then there is no reason to invest in rail.

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