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What is the population density per square mile of Japan versus the USA?
High-speed rail competes with flying, not buses, light rail, or regular rail. Because it takes miles to decelerate and accelerate, high-speed rail travels from population center to population center, and makes very few, if any, stops in between. Hence, it would probably work better in the US than in Japan.
Trains would be more convenient if they went where I want to go.
O, wait - that's impossible even after spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars.
But they go to where a lot of people want to go.
It would be nice if foundry workers or service workers could work wherever they wanted to work. Why do both employers and employees locate in population centers? What else do many, but not necessarily all, residents of population centers at any given time benefit from?
What makes a city? Or a bigger city? Do variations in density need to emerge when one becomes bigger?
Rail gives them what they're really after: control. Control over where and how people live and working, and the ability to social-engineer the masses.
I never forget a few years ago I heard a discussion w/ the guy who is now King County (Seattle) executive. Somebody had drawn up a list of numbers comparing bus, rail, light rail, etc. Light rail came out looking miserable almost every time. Busses were better, and van pools blew everything away. The guy angrily blurted (paraphrase, this was over 10 years ago): "NO rubber-tire solution is going to ever be able to do for us what rail can."
Are you sure he was talking about social control? I've met a couple traffic planners, who said similar things to me. But what they were talking about is destroying business districts and neighborhoods - almost always poor neighborhoods - to widen existing streets or add new ones in order to increase the capacity for "rubber-tire solutions". Light rail replaces a single lane of an existing street to carry more people.
Efficiency also does not measure the costs of increased congestion and pollution caused by adding more cars, busses and/or van pools.
Rail technology is more than 200 years old and still has lots of value, but mostly just for freight. But politicians still love to pump billions into passenger rail rather than look toward newer technology. Rail is very costly, if not impossible, to change or move.
Yes but its QUITE USEFUL!!!!!!
Im glad they havent abandoned everything from the past...... THE PAST IS BETTER!!!!!!!! (Better things)
Rail technology is more than 200 years old and still has lots of value, but mostly just for freight. But politicians still love to pump billions into passenger rail rather than look toward newer technology. Rail is very costly, if not impossible, to change or move. Rail only goes where there are (almost) permanent rail lines, not where people choose to go. On the other hand, busses can go anywhere. Bus routes can change overnight to meet the changing needs of the people. And now that driverless vehicles are right around the corner, bus transportation will become much cheaper, safer and able to meet the needs of the people.
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“It’s like they’re designing the pony express in the world of the telegraph,†Florida State Senator Jeff Brandes (R-Dist. 22) told Fortune, explaining his opposition to a plan to build a light rail system in Pinellas County. "I absolutely believe that technology is going to transform mass transit in a way that very few people can see...It'll definitely be within 15 or 20 years, which is right when the light rail system…would be coming online."
I'm all for thinking outside the box, but how will adding buses on the roads replace all of Amtrak? If you use buses on the road to replace the busiest Amtrak lines, you'd probably bring the rush hour traffic in those areas to a standstill.
I'm all for thinking outside the box, but how will adding buses on the roads replace all of Amtrak? If you use buses on the road to replace the busiest Amtrak lines, you'd probably bring the rush hour traffic in those areas to a standstill.
Don't replace Amtrak. Just stop subsidizing it.
One bus can carry 50 - 60 people. That's pretty efficient and studies have shown that driverless vehicles can increase road capacity by a big number.
And guess what? They can change their route overnight or as often as people need to. They are not bound by permanent rails.
One bus can carry 50 - 60 people. That's pretty efficient and studies have shown that driverless vehicles can increase road capacity by a big number.
And guess what? They can change their route overnight or as often as people need to. They are not bound by permanent rails.
Basic kinks in their ability to stay on roads and avoid collisions have yet to be worked out.
Again, if you see a sign up ahead for something that results in an impulsive change of plans, why in the world would you give up silent control of a wheel for having to issue new commands by speaking into a microphone, or having to work through a new GUI upgrade? Who works that way?
Let alone have to expect the server's interpretation of a programmers evaluation and myriad (and likely unanticipated) variable-covering of the viability of your command--if the connection works, and digitizer doesn't freeze.
RK, to be honest I believe that rail is the future once again. I believe the destruction of the rail network was pushed by GM/Ford and the Teamsters (yes, the union man blaming a union). Once upon a time in America there was a railroad to every single town. Now we have these ridiculous trucks clogging our freeways. With today's and tomorrow's tech imagine what can be moved on rails by driverless trains. An entire transportation network completely automatic run by super computers that save fuel and time and our highways.
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