As the U.S. fantasizes, the world builds high speed rail

Re:As the U.S. fantasizes, the world builds high speed rail by afuchs on Saturday July 01, 2017 @04:24PM (#14678808)

A self-driving car with 1-2 passengers takes up significantly more space than existing public transportation technologies, such as trains and buses. This isn't a problem outside of densely populated places. However, as the density of a place increases, point-to-point transportation become increasingly ineffective.

Replacing public transportation with point-to-point self-driving technology in a place like Manhattan, would require building out a ridiculously massive amount of road capacity.

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Re:As the U.S. fantasizes, the world builds high speed rail by zionic on Saturday July 01, 2017 @04:36PM (#14678875)

You're thinking like an engineer, where efficieny trumps all.

In the real world people who can will spend money not to be packed in like sardines with people of questionable hygiene.

Know what happens when the AC is out on your vehicle? You get it fixed.

How about when the AC is out for the 3rd time this month on the bus/train?

"Oh well, that sucks, guess I'm going into work sweaty today"

Mass transit everywhere I've been in the US sucks. It's so bad only the poor us it, because even the middle-middle class finds it disgusting/inconvenient.

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Re:As the U.S. fantasizes, the world builds high speed rail by dba7dba on Saturday July 01, 2017 @05:12PM (#14679060)

In Hawaii, the city bus system isn't disgusting. Someone I know told me so. But yeah everywhere else in US, public transportation is disgusting and inconvenient.

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Re:As the U.S. fantasizes, the world builds high speed rail by afuchs on Saturday July 01, 2017 @04:57PM (#14678991)

How much more are you willing to pay, in time and money, for your convenience? (e.g. Waiting in traffic, Congestion pricing, and Elon Musk's Boring Company)

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