Middle Class Trains

[whingknutt]

So, here's my postulates

Comments

[tim_dodge]

on a segway, at the speeds most of us would want to travel, the prospect of bending over to tie my shoe is terrifying. Smokers would be shot for tossing embers back like tiny depth charges to explode in the faces of those behind. Winter transporting would suck

[purple_dj]

Unfortunately it all comes down to money and popular opinion

[astralquest]

Well I agree with all the comments posted so far and I remember a time back in high school when I needed to wait for my parents to pick me up. I hated it. The convenience of having your own car is simply that need. You can get in and go anywhere you want even if you are waiting in traffic. The problem with public transport is the sheer fact that you have to get into your car and drive to the air port of the train station. Pay to park then wait for the flight or train, even if people could drive onto a train there is still the disadvantage of the wait. If you could actually gather the data to prove to people that they sit in traffic for the same amount of time as they would have to wait for a train or a plane then you might be able to drive the popular opinion of the public transit system into the positive. However, you will have a hard time convincing people because they have the flexibility of driving whenever they want to it is possible that they do not sit in traffic consistently enough, they have a good day here and there

[benana]

The problem is that you're leaving cars in where they suck the most... and, admittedly, are the most useful. By leaving people driving for the beginning and end of the trip, you still have horrible traffic in cities, not to mention parking... and gas mileage would plummet. Granted, the train would still be more energy-efficient, assuming it had a reasonable number of passengers, but like purple_dj said, it would cost a lot to lay the tracks for something like that

[purly]

The real problem with public transportation is that it's often cheaper to get someplace in my car, the schedules never fit what I need, it's noisy/uncomfortable, and it never goes where I want it to. Emphasis on the 4th issue. Ideally, roads would stay as they are now, we would invent the perpetual motion device, and everyone would work from home via internet unless they had to make deliveries or go somewhere to build something or shoot a movie.

[purly]

Also, New York city has great public transportation but the only reason it works is because it's not unusual for someone to hoof it in NYC and there's a large enough population/income to support it.