If California had actually gotten a bullet train there might be some precedent in the U.S. to show support for it. :(
As of right now, transit in the U.S. is barren. People cannot take off multiple weeks of work just to reach their destination - when they do it’s usually the goal to drive over taking the train since they take and cost about the same amount of money. Especially if you are trying to visit cross country, you may not even have a direct train route to where you’re going. Like, it’s basically Amtrak or Bust.
It took 16 hours (2 trains and 1 bus) to get to the southern part of my state to visit a friend, and it was more expensive and slower and far more exhausting than a plane flight. We only did it because we wanted to travel in-state with cannabis for 4/20.
It also is far easier to get screwed. I’ve had busses not arrive, train delays and the bus leaves and there’s no refunds, good luck calling one of their centers to try and get any help at all. It’s awful. Systemic issues for rails I guess, or airlines just care more about customer service. I’ve had a lot of good experiences on long trains, but I’ve also had some really awful ones. We need more Inner City rail systems though for sure.
It also is far easier to get screwed. I’ve had busses not arrive, train delays and the bus leaves and there’s no refunds, good luck calling one of their centers to try and get any help at all. It’s awful
This is definitely fixable with good consumer protections. In the UK, one of the few things that works well with public transport is being entitled to refunds when delays or cancellations happen, and if a delay happens that causes you to miss a connection, the travel company is responsible for rectifying that. For instance, last summer I was on a train that ended up being delayed by about 3 hours, which meant we arrived at a station after the last connecting train had left - so the train company called ahead and arranged taxis that got everyone to their final destination. The train tickets were also fully refunded, because any delay over an hour entitles you to that (smaller refunds for smaller delays - I get full or partial refunds on about a third of train journeys I take.) They definitely were not doing all of that out of the goodness of their hearts, but because the law says they have to.
It’s a slippery slope, man. As soon as you interfere with the free market by making companies stop screwing over their customers, nobody has any freedums anymore.
If California had actually gotten a bullet train there might be some precedent in the U.S. to show support for it. :(
As of right now, transit in the U.S. is barren. People cannot take off multiple weeks of work just to reach their destination - when they do it’s usually the goal to drive over taking the train since they take and cost about the same amount of money. Especially if you are trying to visit cross country, you may not even have a direct train route to where you’re going. Like, it’s basically Amtrak or Bust.
It took 16 hours (2 trains and 1 bus) to get to the southern part of my state to visit a friend, and it was more expensive and slower and far more exhausting than a plane flight. We only did it because we wanted to travel in-state with cannabis for 4/20.
It also is far easier to get screwed. I’ve had busses not arrive, train delays and the bus leaves and there’s no refunds, good luck calling one of their centers to try and get any help at all. It’s awful. Systemic issues for rails I guess, or airlines just care more about customer service. I’ve had a lot of good experiences on long trains, but I’ve also had some really awful ones. We need more Inner City rail systems though for sure.
This is definitely fixable with good consumer protections. In the UK, one of the few things that works well with public transport is being entitled to refunds when delays or cancellations happen, and if a delay happens that causes you to miss a connection, the travel company is responsible for rectifying that. For instance, last summer I was on a train that ended up being delayed by about 3 hours, which meant we arrived at a station after the last connecting train had left - so the train company called ahead and arranged taxis that got everyone to their final destination. The train tickets were also fully refunded, because any delay over an hour entitles you to that (smaller refunds for smaller delays - I get full or partial refunds on about a third of train journeys I take.) They definitely were not doing all of that out of the goodness of their hearts, but because the law says they have to.
Good consumer protections? In America? Why, that sounds like the damn Socialisms to me, hyuck!
It’s a slippery slope, man. As soon as you interfere with the free market by making companies stop screwing over their customers, nobody has any freedums anymore.