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Re:Amtrak Could Turn a Profit for the First Time
by bluGill on Monday November 18, 2019 @10:36AM
(#21565087)
The only reason my kid can't use transit himself is the need to cross the busy street when getting of the bus. The bus system will get him where he needs to go, and I've ridden it with him enough to be comfortable that he knows how to use it alone. However at the end of all our trips we need to cross the street to get home and there are too many cars for that.
Assuming you live close to a station and don’t have to carry anything with you. It’s a fools errand to expect a country the size of the US to have stations that connect everything. We also have extensive and ubiquitous air infrastructure as well for long distance travel and airplanes can be rerouted based on demand a lot more easily than fixed rail infrastructure. If there is a big event in some city or town, it’s fairly trivial to add flights, but it’s impossible to add more tracks. Airplanes can better handle seasonal traffic. For commuter traffic, rail can be more efficient, assuming point A to point B. As soon as you need a point C and point D (such as taking kids to karate practice or visiting your aunt Sally, trains become far more painful.