The reason trains aren't going to make a come back in the states isn't because of scenery, you see some beautiful scenery on trains, but it's because of time schedules. Amtrak, the train company in the US, hasn't been on time a single time I've ridden it in over ten years. Yes, it's that bad. In Europe, you can expect to arrive mostly on time. I don't depend on arriving on the right day anymore.
Hence why I got a sleeper this summer when going from AZ to WA. We were over twelve hours late getting into Seattle. They were already running an hour late from the beginning. But, when you have your own bed, a copy of Sims2, and an electrical outlet, you don't mind so much.
But yeah, it's the time, and the fact it's cheaper to fly, that's killing trains in the US. If Amtrak would put a little effort into its service and got people places on time, it might actually see a come back.
Along the same lines, but regarding urban mass transit. For whatever ill-defined reasons, people will not use mass transit unless it's amazingly annoying to drive a car. The only reason the RTD (bus) system in Boulder gets any sort of rider base is that the city council deliberately made the town as car-unfriendly as possible.
In Seattle the mass transit was usually on time, barring massive issues (train crash, complete highway block off because of car crash, roads covered in ice and underivable, etc), so I loved the mass transit there. I just wish they would install a light rail system like the one down in Portland. Now that's how you do mass transit right. ^.^
They are installing more light rail in Seattle. One going from downtown to the Airport. They already have the Seattle-Tacoma commuter train and a pretty good bus system.
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Hence why I got a sleeper this summer when going from AZ to WA. We were over twelve hours late getting into Seattle. They were already running an hour late from the beginning. But, when you have your own bed, a copy of Sims2, and an electrical outlet, you don't mind so much.
But yeah, it's the time, and the fact it's cheaper to fly, that's killing trains in the US. If Amtrak would put a little effort into its service and got people places on time, it might actually see a come back.
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