Highspeed rail is B$it

[nostalgiaquest]

Originally Posted by Jibartik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What I dont understand if we really wanna to talk about is I dont get why do trains cost more than planes!? That's just insane to me.

Even that japanse one was outragious to me, it was like 100 dollars, but it said its cheeper if you get a rail pass, but that's 230 dollars for 7 days.. that's insane to me, like, to be like, "well im going to take this train enough that I better spend 230 this week, oh damn I didnt end up using it after all, oh well.

Like what a hell life trying to min max that would be lol no thanks, im not getting sold on trains the more this goes.

I will agree that the Japan bullet train is crazy expensive. And to further your point if I remember correctly, that rail pass is only available with a foreign passport. It's mainly to increase tourism.

If you're basing your decision based soley on cost, then yeah take the flight. It's a matter of how much you're willing to pay for comfort, time (in some cases), and convenience. If you need to get from Tokyo to Kyoto, flying from Narita to Osaka, and all the additional time spent doing that, is probably not worth the money saved. Especially if your company is paying for it. Europe i've found the costs to be about the same, so it's up to other factors to choose.

Another example. I used to take the bullet train to Nagano all the time for skiing. I think there's a way to do it by plane, but it'd be convoluted and involve transfers. On the train I can bring my big ass ski bag and another big bag with all my gear for no additional fee. But when I went to Sapporo, it was usually cheaper to suck it up and take the plane. Also, Japan has an awesome internal shipping company called Takkyubin that can get your skis anywhere in the country in like 2-3 days.

This is one of the things Japan has done correctly. Since they built their infrastructure with trains being the main mode of travel, they go to many places planes dont. They compliment each other in a way.

Not anti plane. Pro train.

Edit - last post for me for a while. Weather is nice and I'm gonna take an edible and go paddle board on the canals!

[Jibartik]

I think overall I am just shocked that trains in general are more expensive than planes.

My original argument was that planes were faster trains were cheaper and we found out while arguing that its slower in some cases, (although for the private flyers it's still faster.) but cheeper to fly pretty much across the board (except for those fees im still not on the same page about but thats no big deal)

But it being more comfortable, maybe that's a good argument to stop the subsidies from governments for airlines, Idk what trains get but I know the modern ones are still in the 'trying to sell it to the population that its a good way to travel' phase of their lifespan, vs planes has been through that and then some and another part of the reason it's falling apart, it's just an old industry and so its got a lot of bad habbits.

Ive always thought if airport were turned into malls and the airlines took care of everything then they'd try harder - air travel is awful now and its been that way for a long time, makes me sad because when I was a lot younger it people used to dress up to fly. Now it's just a disaster, and I haven't been to europe since before covid, but the doomer in me is glad to hear it's a total fricken disaster. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Jibartik]

One of the things I think I always thought about how shitty airports were was how like, no matter how shitty they treat us people just keep using them.

So maybe if we had a train system they'd try harder to convince us to fly again and we could get some legroom back.

Someone should run for president and build a train but wait no we have to elect someone who wants to do a #dark version of themselves.

[magnetaress]

Elon was like hyperloop brahs

[magnetaress]

The best way to make trains, and busses popular again is to make driving illegal, especially for illegals. Again.

[Kaveh]

Originally Posted by Jibartik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What I mean by secruity in airports is they are all the same.

But train stations are always different and most are basically a like hub. There's a lot of local flavor in every station I've ever been, which makes them all random.

Yeah the airline industry is collapsing - the world is coming to an end and we're in the middle of some gigantic financial reset where the ultra wealthy are going reduce the population by a big number because they believe the scientists... but thats another discussion.

As far as 1980-2015's getting around in airports was fine and international flights were always a routine.

I cant say the same for needing to transfer on a train in a country that spells its A's like a square.

The airlines have been failing and getting bailed out forever. Heard of Panam? They were basically a monopoly at one point and still couldn’t make air travel profitable after they made an acquisition mistake

Which is the point. Your ticket price means nothing. It isn’t a reflection of cost in the same way that you driving on a “free” government maintained road isn’t reflective of its cost

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/b...-pandemic.html

$18.6 billion in 2001, ~$50 billion during Covid. $300,000 cost per job saved with the recent bailout

Pretty expensive man! In 2021, the airline/air transport industry spent $108 million on lobbying. Glad to see it’s working

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-...summary?id=M01

[Kaveh]

Without the federal government, we likely don’t have rail, highways, or air travel

Pick your poison. I like trains and hate airline CEOs, shrug

[Homesteaded]

Originally Posted by Kaveh [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The airlines have been failing and getting bailed out forever. Heard of Panam? They were basically a monopoly at one point and still couldn’t make air travel profitable after they made an acquisition mistake

Which is the point. Your ticket price means nothing. It isn’t a reflection of cost in the same way that you driving on a “free” government maintained road isn’t reflective of its cost

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/b...-pandemic.html

$18.6 billion in 2001, ~$50 billion during Covid. $300,000 cost per job saved with the recent bailout

Pretty expensive man! In 2021, the airline/air transport industry spent $108 million on lobbying. Glad to see it’s working

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-...summary?id=M01

Interesting stuff here…I get your point now. What makes airlines so hard to turn a profit on? My guess is safety and government regulation don’t help.

[Jibartik]

Originally Posted by Kaveh [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Without the federal government, we likely don’t have rail, highways, or air travel

Pick your poison. I like trains and hate airline CEOs, shrug

Yeah it’s hard to argue because it’s not like trains don’t need all that same money from the government either. Like where is America gonna put these trains? Are they just gonna buy like billions of dollars of property from people?

I bet the footprint of making and laying the track for rail across America to be efficient enough to replace air travel, would cause the climate to collapse lmao

The only reason trains are better right now is (in some situations) is because they’re brand new and they charge more.

Virgin Airlines was amazing when it was brand new it was like flying in a space casino now it’s just as much like a cattle car as any other airline.

Everything that sucks about air travel would suck about train travel.

[Jibartik]

I cant imagine that this is realistic in 50 states:

Not to mention this is already totally inefficient with people having to go all over the fricken place just to get to the next town over so Id drive every time.

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(not to mention in this thought experiment I did this to the entire Oregon coast:

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