Deregulation and subsidies for air male it cheaper. Having to work against that makes train a tough sell
Comment on Why is us rail travel so expensive?
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 5 days ago
The American rail network was built mainly as private enterprise regulated by public agencies. This worked when rail had an effective monopoly on long distance travel, but fell apart when other modes could compete. When a major railroad (Penn Central) went bankrupt, the federal government relieved all private companies from having to maintain passenger service and the long distance trips went into Amtrak in the 1970’s.
Until Biden, there was little public demand for building out rail transit. The Interstate system built out a decent highway network and air deregulation meant that flights got very cheap.
kunaltyagi@programming.dev 5 days ago
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 5 days ago
It also doesn’t help when private train companies didn’t want to run passenger service.
Bieren@lemmy.today 5 days ago
Was in a train the other day. Across the European country side. Doing 160 mph. Reading a book, taking a nap. Whatever. No traffic. No dealing with road rage and aggressive drivers. Show up like 10 minutes before the train. No TSA. No hassles. Just get on the train and relax. Fuck cars and airplanes.
nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
im claustrophobic so this is the only way i can travel without screaming FUCK really loud and freaking people out