Cars, Trains, and Airplanes !

[W_L]

After being to Europe and comparing the train systems between Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium with the US, I do wonder why the US train travel is so lackluster for travel beyond 2-3 hours. I mean, technologically speaking, it's not like the US can't do the same things and not all the European trains were running on the high speed rails that we all hear about. They were standard rail systems with electric or diesel engines.

 

I also get that the US is more dependent on automobiles and buses for transport, but it becomes such a hassle to get from one place to another if you can't drive like me and biking is not an option. Buses are becoming overburdened with passengers due to the lack of auto access as well, probably due to the problem of auto financing and the general economic recovery issues. Even with the problems of passenger loads and congestion, we're still running a really inefficient internal infrastructure.

 

Then, there's the airplane, it's gotten better in the last 4 years, but the mode of transportation is also getting more limited. I used to visit my cousins in Flint, Michigan with a major carrier, US Airways, but the route got discontinued. So I have to pay for a small passenger plane that looks like it was made in the 1950's to get to their airport. It's crowded and holds probably 30-40 people with no room for luggage. Carry-on options are limited already as you travel on long trips, it just forces you to sit down and have a 30 lb roller on your lap.

 

Travel in the US is very inefficient and costly, but it doesn't need to be that way. It's not a political issue, nor economic one (Europe has state owned rail systems, running efficiently + huge profits like DB in Germany made 1.3 Billion Euros alone in net profits, and the US used to have better operational efficiency in the past).

 

I am just unsatisfied with how the transportation system within the US is operating.

[CassieQ]

Blame GM for eliminating electric railways and streetcars in favor of the automobile.

[Y_B]

The US doesn't have a culture that relies on public transportation. You either have to sit back and do nothing because putting money into something people won't use is a waste or you have to make that something better so people may use it. But if you ask me, the majority of people will just not be that ready to use public transportation. You take away the keys to some men's f150 and give them bus passes, you still may as well have cut off their balls. Sure, a few years ago the public shifted somewhat but that's because gas prices were so high and it was temporary. As far as flying goes, I don't know. I don't fly much.

[Andy78]

I regularly use trains in Europe and they are excellent. DeutscheBahn in Germany are probably the best train operators in Europe (with Switzerland's SBB second, and they have no high speed services I'm aware of). DB run trains all over Germany and into neighbouring countries, and they also run a large number of the trans-Europe night trains.

 

DB made €1.3bn profit and yet their fares are extremely reasonable. You can currently travel from Cologne, Germany to London, UK for €49 one way (and apparently once the direct services start running in a few years the fare will be even cheaper). I have travelled first class on the ICE train (recently spent 10 hours travelling from Cologne to Vienna) and it was like using a major airline. I was served food and drinks at my seat (just had to ring for the attendant), I had a large comfy reclining leather seat, I was offered numerous international newspapers, and was very impressed with the level of English their staff have (I speak a smattering of German, but certainly not enough to carry on a conversation).

[Arpeggio]

There's no such things as public transportation where I live unless you drive about 40 minutes towards downtown.

 

Edit: I'd love to see more diesel options for cars like in Europe. I think Volkswagon sells diesel engines here, but finding one is though, and repairs are costly which is a bummer.

Edited June 30, 2012 by Arpeggio

[Bill W]

WL, blame the lack of mass or public transportation on one thing - the American sense of independence. Americans don't like to wait for anything and want to be able to hop into their cars or trucks and go wherever they want, whenever they wish. With the affordability of the automobile came the gradual decline in most forms of public transportation, except in major cities and the continued reliance on airplanes, because of the vast distances they can cover in a much shorter period of time. If you want to increase the availability of public, mass transportation, you first have to change the American psyche.

[Sympathia]

While I'm quite happy with public transportation in Germany it still has quite some issues. I mainly use the train to get from Berlin to my relatives in east germany and it's really sad to see the state of the trainstations. I actually had to wait for a train to stop so I could use a bathroom when I was waiting for my aunt to pick me up because the restrooms where boarded shut, lol.

 

The public transport network here in southern sweden is awesome! I can get anywhere easily by bus or train from the little town I live in and transport is, mostly, on time. They do however suck really hard at crisis management, but then again I think thats a Swedish national trait. Not everybody can be as efficient as we germans. *cough*

[Ashi]

I am just unsatisfied with how the transportation system within the US is operating.

 

CassieQ said it. The automobile industry lobbied the U.S. government that's why the railway system was pretty much killed.

 

I've been in Philadelphia area, and the mass transit there is okay. NY's system is really dirty and old. DC's metro is really good. None of them compare to Europe's in term of efficiency. SF Bay Area's system is bad. The BART's extension to San Jose has been talked about like forever (two decades at least), but at least it looks like it might happen.... (*cross fingers*). The high speed rail system, well, we pass the measure TWICE. The politicians killed people's votes first time, so we voted it again, saying yes, we don't mind a little sales tax increase, but the politicians will find another way to kill it, and then blame it to California's current state of economy....

 

SF's bus system is fine, but MUNI buses are very old. San Jose's bus system is very broken. It has the newest bus fleet you'll ever see (they replace buses like every three years or something, basically the buses are newer than my car), free Wi-Fi onboard also, but almost nobody takes it (usually just one or two people on a bus, sometimes you'll see a bus shows "out of service" on top, because nobody is using it). The route system is just terrible. From my home to the university I went to, I need to transfer twice before I could get somewhere.... Very inconvenient. The less people take it, the less likely they'll expand the network, and less likely people will take the bus.... Negative spiral. They really should just decrease the size of the bus, and increase the frequency to stop and expand the route. The only redeeming value for our system is they're very clean inside.

 

With gas price increase, BART get a lot of ridership (it was not enough people to ride on it before, and BART constantly complained about not able to break even. BART is privately owned). So what they do is increase the price of ticket and charge $1 for parking your car at a BART station on week days. If you calculate the total price to ride the BART, it's the same as riding CalTrain, and the same as driving, if you go from South Bay to San Francisco. They really do know how to discourage people from using public transportation. If you have two or more people going to SF, it's cheaper to car pool. You'll likely to take MUNI bus in SF also, so that's extra $2 per ride. If you're going to downtown area, probably it's worth a while to ride a train or BART because you don't need to find a parking (and parking in SF is expensive), but elsewhere where parking is free, driving is cheaper and gives you the freedom to go several places without paying for ride a MUNI.

 

People who need these public transportation system are people who cannot drive or someone who cannot afford to own a car. Basically our public transportation functions as a poor man's tax. And if you live in a low income area, your car insurance is astronomically higher (car insurance rate is based on zip code). Most low-income people around here have two or three minimum wage jobs (or they cannot afford to live here), but I really don't know how can they manage to waste time on waiting for buses between shifts.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Ashi

[TetRefine]

Here's why train transportation sucks in the US.

 

A flight from where I go to school (ten minutes from the Philly airport) to the airport closest my house (either Manchester or Hartford) takes only 55 minutes of flying time.

 

A train ride on Amtrak from 30th Street Station in Philly to Brattleboro, VT takes 7.5 hours, and its much easier to get to the airport then 30th Street Station. With Philly being such a large airport with many airlines, flying generally costs only about $15-20 more then a train ticket. So I can get to where I'm going in about 3 hours (counting the drive), or in 7.5 hours by train. Amtrak sucks.

 

The US has the largest and most developed airport system in the world, and with the popularity of Southwest and JetBlue, its very cheap. So why would someone not spend the extra little bit of money on a flight that will get them there many times faster then a train?

 

As for public transportation such as buses and subways, well, they don't exist outside large cities and the immediate suburbs. They also tend to be chronically inefficient and dangerous.

[Zombie]

The US has the largest and most developed airport system in the world, and with the popularity of Southwest and JetBlue, its very cheap. So why would someone not spend the extra little bit of money on a flight that will get them there many times faster then a train?

 

Ha - in the UK flying is cheaper than the train. A lot cheaper in many cases. Since the train system was flogged off to private companies in the 80s (previously State owned since 1948) passengers fares have rocketed AND the govt pays these companies many time more in subsidies now than it was costing to run the whole system before privatisation! And if you expect to get a seat for your eye wateringly expensive ticket on a commuter train or Friday night forget it - you'll be strap hanging all the way *tries to forget memory of especially nightmarish journey *

[clumber]

I thought the reason for the lack of public transportation use in America is because... well... there is no plublic tranportation. It'd also explain why there aren't mant demands for more - if a system is slow, over-crowded and uncomfortable, people aren't going to ask for more of it.

[Ashi]

I thought the reason for the lack of public transportation use in America is because... well... there is no plublic tranportation. It'd also explain why there aren't mant demands for more - if a system is slow, over-crowded and uncomfortable, people aren't going to ask for more of it.

 

Parking is abundant and free in most places (except in really large cities..., so those are the only places where public transportation are popular), freeway is very well developed. I don't know about other places, but in California, everything is very spaced out, so unless you have a car, it's very inconvenient to go anywhere. Our population density isn't like London or other major cities around the world.

 

Ha - in the UK flying is cheaper than the train. A lot cheaper in many cases. Since the train system was flogged off to private companies in the 80s (previously State owned since 1948) passengers fares have rocketed AND the govt pays these companies many time more in subsidies now than it was costing to run the whole system before privatisation! And if you expect to get a seat for your eye wateringly expensive ticket on a commuter train or Friday night forget it - you'll be strap hanging all the way *tries to forget memory of especially nightmarish journey *

 

Well, people should realize privatization doesn't mean lower price. It's competition that drives down the price and drive up quality.