Amtrak

[Gameface]

There are plenty of **** things in China, but public transportation isn't one of them. It's super easy, fast, and cheap to get around here.

Same story in places like Singapore and Hong Kong (China, but still). NYC and London were early to the party and now are stuck with 1st gen infrastructure. The U.S. needs a major kick in the *** to spend what it's going to take to make our country just on par with many of the more recent up and coming cities of the world.

I think a lot of people in the U.S. operate under the false impression that we are more developed than anywhere else. Maybe just pointing out that it isn't true and then rubbing our noses in our fat turd infrastructure could get us motivated? I don't know.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Same story in places like Singapore and Hong Kong (China, but still). NYC and London were early to the party and now are stuck with 1st gen infrastructure. The U.S. needs a major kick in the *** to spend what it's going to take to make our country just on par with many of the more recent up and coming cities of the world.

I think a lot of people in the U.S. operate under the false impression that we are more developed than anywhere else. Maybe just pointing out that it isn't true and then rubbing our noses in our fat turd infrastructure It could get us motivated? I don't know.

Yeah, lots of places are way better than USA and overall pretty good. I dont think any country quite competes with China's infrastructure. They have more or less propped their GDP up with ridiculous levels of infrastructure. Like building entire stadiums in smallish towns for an event, but no plans to use it after and it starts falling apart a few years later. Oh, and roads/subway lines and everything else to accommodate people getting there that are hardly used later. Along with the flowers and everything along the road that have to be maintained. Plenty of cheap labor I guess. Or the decision to build a new possibly needed subway line and to move 200,000 people, tear down decent existing housing for them, and rebuild it in a different part of town. Generally giving people the option of a decent cash payout (more than the home is worth) or offering the bigger newer housing complex to move to. But that's a whole other conversation

It is sad to see how far behind USA is in infrastructure, not just transportation. Something really needs to change. Companies are making a **** ton of money in the USA but it isnt going to taxes, infrastructure, or peoples salary in general. This isnt just a USA problem, but they are probably suffering the most in comparison to the amount of money made in the USA.

 

[Ron Mexico]

I am hopeful that a future president will run with a great transportation project like hyper tunnels or whatever and pass more infrastructure bills. No one wants more taxes but its something that USA needs to spend money on. Stop wasting so much money on cars and prioritizing them over everything else in a city. Cars shouldn't even really be in downtowns.

Also I hope all companies in the USA and preferably the world start paying a min tax of 10-15%. We should not let companies like Google get away with paying nothing while making giant profits.

 

[Elizah Huge]

We just drove about 400 miles each way (800 miles total) from Arizona to California. Spent about a total of $200 on gas. We filled up the tank right before the California border because it was $1.50/gallon cheaper. Only got enough gas in California to get back to the border on the way back then filled up again.

If you have kids I would never use the Amtrak. If you value your time and being comfortable just drive. It’s not as expensive as you’d think especially depending on the type of car you have.

 

[Elizah Huge]

I am hopeful that a future president will run with a great transportation project like hyper tunnels or whatever and pass more infrastructure bills. No one wants more taxes but its something that USA needs to spend money on. Stop wasting so much money on cars and prioritizing them over everything else in a city. Cars shouldn't even really be in downtowns.

Also I hope all companies in the USA and preferably the world start paying a min tax of 10-15%. We should not let companies like Google get away with paying nothing while making giant profits.

This just makes too much sense.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Their trains go 200-300mph? That seems like hyperbole.

I cant tell you how nice it is to walk out of my house and go to the subway 1 block away and take it three stops to the train station. Then hop on a nice train with wifi, plenty of room, plugs for phones, a small restaurant inside the train with 1 usd beers, and a bunch of other nice amenities. Then show up at a vacation place on the ocean in 4 hours (distance of like SLC to LA or even further on the faster trains) It makes traveling so much less stressful to not go to the airport. Boarding is just walking on the platform and usually takes less than 10 min and the train is leaving. No ticket in hand just tap your ID as you walk on. Oh and it costs like maybe $50-100 in total for the roundtrip. $400 gets me 1st class access with a seat I can lay down in over the top service, free food and drink, and so on.

 

[LogGrad98]

Their trains go 200-300mph? That seems like hyperbole.

There are trains in Europe that go 200 mph or so. The fastest I rode on showed you the current speed and the route on a big screen. It was fun to watch it climb to 170 mph. Then it was slowing down as we were approaching the destination. Better than flying for some of these stretches for sure. Even at the slower speeds of 130 to 150 it was pretty great.

 

[Ron Mexico]

There are trains in Europe that go 200 mph or so. The fastest I rode on showed you the current speed and the route on a big screen. It was fun to watch it climb to 170 mph. Then it was slowing down as we were approaching the destination. Better than flying for some of these stretches for sure. Even at the slower speeds of 130 to 150 it was pretty great.

The crazy thing is when you are standing on the platform and a train comes by that isnt stopping at your station at full speed. Its pretty intense to see a huge train fly by you 10 feet away at 200 or whatever MPH. It actually scares the **** out of me every time. I think the fastest train that is active to public is or maybe was (new trains are all the time) the Shanghai train from the airport to downtown. It gets up to speed so fast I think its around 270 mph. It gets you downtown in like 7 minutes, I think the train is capable of going much faster if it had a further distance to travel, kind of the same tech as hyperloops. I think they are planning a Shanghai to Beijing train that will take 2.5 hours which is about 620 miles. China cities are pretty well planned. The downside is that the Airports are way outside of downtown usually. I got spoiled in SLC with the airport like 10-15 min from downtown. Most airports are 1-1.5 hours car ride even with relatively low traffic.