|
|
|
|
|
|
by rs186
428 days ago
|
|
|
> There's five toilets on each car, you never have to wait. Can't agree based on personal experience. > There's free wifi. That wifi is barely usable. I often ended up using my phone as the hotspot. > Riding the train is more fun than flying Depending on whether you are a big train nerd or plane nerd. I am a little bit of both, and I never consider train to be any more fun or boring than flights. On shorter trips where plane flies at a low altitude (e.g. Boston-NYC-Washington DC), if the weather is good, I would be staring at the ground and take (crappy) aerial photos the whole flight. And your post doesn't mention the routine delays on Amtrak trains. Trains in China and Japan are much more punctuate. Don't get me wrong, I take trains in the US for leisure purposes more than almost anyone I know, but it is not nearly as romantic as you try to paint, which is why most people choose driving or something else. |
|
|
Most people in the US have never ridden the Amtrak. Not even once in their lives. Source?
https://www.newsweek.com/more-americans-taking-train-ever-pa...
Amtrak set a record in December, the most passengers ever in a year. 32.8 million. If every single one of those rides was a different person instead of repeat riders, that would still be less than 10% of the total US population.
Yet 83% of the population supports more investment in Amtrak.
https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/press-release/53068546/a...
It doesn't sound like the US population uses cars by choice to me. It sounds like they're forced to use cars, because their area has little or no Amtrak service.
I rode the Amtrak an average of twice a month last year, and the train was delayed/late only once. That's much less frequent than traffic jams I'd say. You waited for a bathroom? Okay, was there a big line or something, because otherwise that's gonna be like 5 minutes at most. It takes far longer than 5 minutes to find an off ramp with a service station and then get back to traveling. When compared to air travel, there is always a line when you need to use it because there's typically only 2 toilets for each cabin section of the plane. And everyone is loaded up on the complimentary beverage at the same time.
Are Japanese passenger trains better? Yes, of course they are. The cars are cleaner, the ride is smoother, train fare is paid with an IC card, platforms are level with the train so you don't need to drag luggage up stairs. I would love to see Amtrak improve to the level of Japan. But I'll still take Amtrak over driving/flying in the US any day.