Elon Musk's vision of AmericaFollow

Fire-breathing iron horses of hell; banish them back to the nether!

My understanding is there was this sweet spot for high speed rail where it made sense. Cars are slow but very convenient to use, planes are fast, but airports are very spread out and taking the plane can be quite a time-intensive process (you're catching the cab into town from the random farm field they had to put the giant airport in, getting there early, waiting in security lines, etc). High speed rail was supposed to be a comfy in-between, perfect for trips of a couple hundred miles or so.

America just doesn't have cities spaces at that distance enough to justify the country-wide investment. Southern California and the north-east are nice locations for it, but other places just don't have the population spacing and the geography to make it a sensible choice.

Or something like that.

Edited, Nov 14th 2013 5:27pm by someproteinguy

Why would I ever pay to travel somewhere when books can already take me there for free?

Besides, you're probably paying for the books in some way.

quick mock up for the imagination impaired Not to scale, etc.

To gbaji people knowing things is an act of deception.

Don't be silly, all the world is precisely equivalent to whatever suburban part of Cali gbaji resides in.

The parking problem is no different at some of the larger college campuses at the US. Students are charged $600/year to park at UGA, for example. However, the city bus is free for them, and some of the large apartment complexes have shuttle buses to and from campus.

59% of commutes in Amsterdam are by bicycle, it's about 30% nationwide. You guys have a long way to go.


Edited, Nov 15th 2013 5:54pm by Aethien

If anything is artificial-- its how Americans are all expected to buy cars, and keep buying cars. Outside of large urban areas, public transit is hardly an option. If you want to get anywhere, you must have a car. If you aren't paying car payments, insurance and consuming plenty of gasoline, why, you're just plain doinitwrong.

Sure, you can deviate from this-- and become a subject of ridicule-- an inconvenience and obstacle for everyone else who are just trying to drive their cars. "Shame on that guy for riding a bicycle in his incredibly narrow bicycle lane(provided there is one at all), making all of us swerve around him nervously! No one will hire him, and he will never get laid. Riding a bicycle ::scoff:: What the **** is wrong with him?"

There is nowhere you can go that isn't saturated with traffic. You'd think it was an indication of a healthy economy, what with everyone riding around in their own personal money-sink. Many of these people are living beyond their means owning and maintaining a car, and it is an enormous burden on them-- but they have no choice.

Oh, if only there was some other way people could get around-- no. Perish the thought. "Public transit is for Europeans!" they'll tell you. "Vote for me and I promise to make gasoline less expensive, and you more dependent on it than ever!"

Vehicle ownership is not the status symbol that it once was, but you're still dependent on a one if you're not in a major metropolis.

A local news story this morning though, told me that the new end-of-the-line stop on our commuter train saw 50% more business than was predicted. That was good to hear - next stop on the line will be in my neck of the woods.

How dare cyclists drive on MY road! They're so entitled!

Trouble is, you are an obstacle and annoyance regardless of how carefully you operate the bicycle on the road. It just isn't an option. Meanwhile, most other countries don't seem to have as much trouble. Could it be there are ways for bicycles to travel that don't share a road dominated by motored vehicles?

We have our share of bikeways, but they require a reasonable amount of pre-planning and real estate.