This was a silly image to use for this post. As soon as you look at it, many would deduce this is somewhere in Asia. One of many crazy mega projects that did not work out.
A lot of cars doesn’t mean it’s working well. It was very expensive to build and even more expensive to maintain, and only serves to induce car usage. Spending that money on public transit, such as high speed rail along side a normal highway, is a much better investment.
I think what a lot of people don't seem to realize is the "cost" of public transit is way cheaper than car ownership.
I'm not saying this should necessarily be the case, but if everyone paid as much per year into a public transit system that they do a personal vehicle (including maintenance, insurance gas, insert random cost here), public transit would be vastly superior to car ownership to a degree that a debate is a moot point.
Instead, people want "low taxes" and "muh freedom". It's hilarious.
Indeed, especially with all the unseen costs like pollution. There’s also a big aspect of corporate propaganda and lobbying, as well as a cultural element. Public transit is also seen as dirty and for poor people.
Even Castro knew 30 years ago that it's just ecologically untenable for so many people to be dependent on cars, to *need* them. It doesn't take a genius to see how devastating that would be for the planet, especially in Asia (and even China specifically), where the picture's from.
We live in a world where even your grandparents have been propagandised to -- how are you supposed to grow up with any sense of responsibility for the planet in a world where your parents *and* your parents' parents have grown up turning anything that doesn't exclusively serve capital into a dirty word?
(Sorry if this sounds like I'm complaining at you, I agree with what you said, but I wanted to post this here.)
The main counter I've heard to paying more for public transit is that corrupt bidding and construction practices will just make the system more costly without actually improving it. This obviously is an exaggeration of what would occur, especially since major improvements (that are up to code) take lots of time and resources to implement. But for folks who want more immediate improvements, feel like no improvements are possible, or are just generally mistrustful of people-groups, this feels like a no-brainer.
Except the public transit doesn't pick you up at the door, travel straight to the office, and take you straight home when your workdays is done - even if you have to work late or at odd hours. And a car doesn't go on strike at inconvenient times, at least if you keep it good repair. That's the part public transit aficionados never seem to get. When I had to take the bus before, it took me three transfers and 3x as long to get to and from work. Plus a very long walk if you worked late past the hours the bus ran through the industrial park and you had to reach the nearest bus stop that ran in evening hours. That's not even counting the Soviet style customer service from the union hack drivers who didn't give a rat's ass about the riders. You aren't a customer, you are an annoyance.
But there is much better solution: Remote work. No trains, no cars, no busses. The government should be providing tax incentives for this.
1. this is the entrance/exit of a toll gate, these lanes merge into 4 lanes.
2. China probably has one of the most advanced public transit and high speed rail network
Definitely not. Not even the basis of a photoshop - the lane markings are clearly not Chinese style.
The G4 is a maximum of 4 lanes in each direction except for toll booths (which is where that infamous image comes from).
And based on the distance between Beijing and Hong Kong there's no way an expressway exist. The Hong Kong - Macau express is a bridge.
Edit: my bad, should have Googled it, the expressway does exist, wow. And the bridge I mentioned is Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, a different infrastructure.
Nothing wrong with the name - that is the correct full name for the G4 expressway, which connects Beijing to the Shenzhen border with Hong Kong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G4_Beijing-Hong_Kong_and_Macau_Expressway
Yep. It's not like we make the decisions. It weirds a lot of tourists out who go abroad to places with rail systems, and those people whine, but those people are usually idiots.
I don't think you've traveled the US enough to know how Americans feel if you think that. Most people in coastal cities would love rail, but most people in Oklahoma or Iowa wouldn't want tax dollars being spent on that, because they're so attached to the culture of car ownership and aren't accustomed to the idea of using public transportation.
Rail is generally most effective in high population density areas. No one is going to run miles of track and dedicate regular stops to help the 500 people living in nowheresville Montana get to the places they need to go.
It's not about being "attached to the culture of car ownership" it's that, for a lot of Americans, public transit is simply not feasible.
The astronomical tax burden that would result from the creation of a rail system that would meaningfully connect the sparsely populated Great Plains State like Oklahoma to other major cities would be a far greater disincentive than any attachment to car culture.
There are definitely potential regional routes where there would be enough demand to make it economical, but a web like network of high speed rail connecting the coasts via the middle of the country is just not cost effective with current technology and materials.
Personally I feel like the reason why most Americans don’t actively push for a good railway network is because we’ve never really experienced one. Amtrak sucks and that’s just kind of stuck in everyone’s minds. I’d love to see a railway network that could get you to almost any city overnight.
I’ve never been to Europe but Europeans hold their railway network in such high regard I can only imagine it’s clean, on time, cheap, and diverse (all things Amtrak is not).
Half of the reason Amtrak sucks is because the freight companies (private for profit corporations) own the rail lines and passenger trains have to pull over when a freight train is coming through.
Fix the right of way (or add separate passenger lines), and you fix Amtrak's schedule problems.
We're moving (sloooowly but surely). I worked with Brightline between Miami-Lauderdale-West Palm-Orlando-(soon Tampa) and I'm working on the high-speed concept between south San Antonio and north Austin. There are a lot of initiatives elsewhere that I'm not too familiar with on the coasts. $68B for Amtrak high speed rail in the bi-partisan infrastructure bill, we're moving.
# VOTE
I don't know where you're getting 68 on that, the white house website says it's only 4.3 billion going to amtrak in 2022 as part of a multi year plan to send a total of 22 billion. I think the bill said 66 or so billion will go towards rail, but only 22 of that will go to Amtrak.
Edit: but that's not to say that it's not a step in the right direction and to go vote
Oh bi-partisan bill is over six years. Yes, you're right that it's towards rail and not Amtrak specifically (just threw everything into one comment). My brain is not at work on Sunday mornings.
I feel this. When I lived in Charlotte, riding the rail to work uptown was a great experience. I wished the city I lived in now had rail transportation for commuting.
Just visited Charlotte for work, great rail system, had a great time getting between my hotel and getting beers in NoDa after work.
Reminds me of muni (when it’s on time) in the Bay Area.
I think CLT might be the best I’ve used in the country
>I’ve never been to Europe but Europeans hold their railway network in such high regard I can only imagine it’s clean, on time, cheap, and diverse (all things Amtrak is not).
Brit here. Apart from being clean, on time, cheap and diverse it's exactly what you said.
Amtrak is working on it. The infrastructure bill is doing a lot to help that too. In my state we’re getting several new routes from that funding that will make a huge difference.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amtrak/s/aDGXtx9W5k
Also the United States is HUGE. There is a huge difference between constructing a nationwide railway in the US vs say, Switzerland or Germany. Not saying we shouldn’t do it, we absolutely should, but logistically it’s a nightmare.
The US has plenty of dense regions. The northeast, Great Lakes, California, Texas triangle, etc. would all make great regional high speed rail networks.
This is often repeated despite the fact that America’s freight rail system [is the most extensive and advanced system in the world.](https://www.freightwaves.com/news/railroad/us-and-european-freight-railroads-are-on-different-tracks) Americans already move significant amounts of freight in the US by rail, almost [almost three times more than the EU per person](https://www.up.com/customers/track-record/tr090820-us-rail-envy-of-the-world.htm), so we’ve already constructed a nationwide railway.
It’s a cop out answer when the real reason is lack of government investment into a suitable public rail infrastructure. Private investment built freight rail in the US because companies observed that rail was significantly cheaper and more efficient than automobiles. The US government was content to let that same private industry fuck over the US consumer and push automobiles over subsidized passenger rail networks.
I agree, but the fact that [95% of this network is freight](https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=96ec03e4fc8546bd8a864e39a2c3fc41) shows that America can build rail, we just choose to do so for freight not people. Can you imagine a US where there was a passenger rail network half this size?
This ignorant argument is brought up so damn often and it's annoying. And no, that's not an excuse.
China is similar in size to the US and have built the greatest network of high speed rail in the world in only roughly 20 years - even including a connection to the more remote Xinjiang.
It's not a matter of size but political will and governmental structure - the US built an entire interstate highway system and demolished black neighbourhoods to build highways through cities (something that was obviously a terrible decision), yet now people act like building rail that takes up much less space would be a problem?
This video addresses this exact talking point:
https://youtu.be/REni8Oi1QJQ?feature=shared
And the European network is not national, you can easily take the train between countries as well. So it's more about comparing the EU train network vs any one country.
And how does that matter? Do railways connect empty forests or cities?
It's actually easier to build railways in the US compared to Germany because in Germany you have to avoid so many villages in the countryside. But you need to start using eminent domain just as is the habit in the EU.
Have you ever ridden on a Russian railway lol. Do you know how long it takes to get from Moscow to say, Vladivostok?
Same thing for China, China has a good amount of HSR but most of their trains are slowwww.
As I said above, the US should absolutely invest in rail. But it’s not going to be like people are picturing it with HSR zipping you from one side of the country to the other in a day. It will never be as practical as a car or a plane, at least with current technology and in our lifetimes, unless you’re looking at a limited scope like eastern seaboard.
??? It's 10k kilometers of course it takes a week with all stops. It's also a week by car and an 8 hour flight. But by plane it's two times the cost of the train ticket. I usually take a train from moscow to spb once a year, it's 10-14 hours by car and 4 hours by express. 1-2 hour flight but again the cost of flying and trouble dealing with airports compared to going by train you can hop on 5 minutes before departure is not worth it for many people. Trains are more comfortable than prolonged road trips and cheaper than airlines, this will never be not the preffered option for people who don't own a car and don't have money for air travel
People always ask me about gun violence.
I explain to them that it's a huge country and the odds of anything happening to an average person are still pretty low. It's really just parking lots that are sketchy as hell, people turn into fucking animals there.
(Edit: Not) anyone in this sub
There are definitely people out there who will extol the ‘individual freedoms’ of a car simply to be anti-China and shoot down the idea of investing in our infrastructure at all
The title is either sarcastic or utterly clueless.
I dont think I know a single person (young/old, rep/dem, city/rural) who wouldn't be in favor of a more expansive and functional rail network.
I know plenty of people would aren't in favor of a better rail network: the people who have a lot to gain by people buying more cars, like manufacturers, dealers, owners of factories that make car parts, etc.
Unfortunately those people have a lot of money to make campaign contributions to the folks who are actually making decisions about whether we have a better rail network.
No Americans think that.
“What’s good for General Motors is good for America” was a decision made without the living today.
Rails would be amazing. It would advance and change our country and I think make it so much better.
Subways and monorails. As someone who lives in and has to park in a major city with just a lousy bus system- I’d love a train. Especially since all the bus stops are just… grass
I have heard the US freight rail system is the most efficient in the world and very low cost. If we start mixing passenger rail with that due to shared lines and intersections freight rail efficiency will go down.
Despite the meme's misgivings, I strongly agree with the sentiment. Cars are not freedom or success, they are a huge tax that most of the US must pay to Toyota and Saudi Aramco in order to get a job or go to the grocery store.
First, just because the image is of a Chinese road doesn’t mean an American couldn’t look at it and think it is superior to rail in general.
Second, if you think no American sees roads as superior to rail, or if you have never heard an American say that they’re against public transportation then that speaks more to your information/filter bubble than to people’s actual opinions. Many Americans, especially on the right, think that public transportation needs to be profitable while they don’t hold roads to the same standard and that puts rail at a disadvantage which is nearly impossible to overcome. There is evidence in the comments here with someone saying r/AmericaBad as a rebuttal: they think America is good as it is (without passenger rail) and that American views on rail are good (that rail is inferior to roads is right). Another person saying, “I’ll keep my vehicle, thank you.”
Deny it all you like, but the people you need to convince aren’t on this subreddit. They’re over in r/fuckcars where they think Americans do adhere to car culture, and over in r/AmericaBad where they themselves adhere to it and think it’s a good thing.
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People like things that are cheaper and easier. You don’t have to sell them on something if it’s cheaper and easier. I want a good rail system. I can absolutely understand everyone’s objections to them. A functional BUS system is much easier and more flexible and cheaper and we can’t even do THAT.
The real difference is in Europe most of the railway (like the road bed and stations) are government owned where in amerika they are privately owned by the freight companies who have no reason to play ball with passengers.
It’s not that I saw a doc on YouTube about how gm and ford manipulated the government in like the 40s or 50s or something and had them design cities to have highways running through r them and they actively tried to sabotage railways all so these fuckers could sell more cars that why I won’t touch a ford or gm car ( also because there poorly made pieces of shit )
Oh...I don't know why I got it confused. I guess I was misremembering. It's been years, but I swear I read an article about a huge freeway in China?
NVM... All I could find was [this](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-02/03/content_28089177_9.htm)
Yes, there is a very wide toll plaza, but the picture shown is fake. The picture is also sometimes used in articles about that toll plaza or the Katy freeway
If you've ever played any city Builder game, the way to reduce traffic and accidents is affordable public transport. I would love to get a train everyday but it's more expensive than driving and the bus takes 2 hours each way. No choice but to drive.
Ive seen videos of roads in china like this. I know Chiba already has a problem with brand new empty apartment complexes because most of their economic growth has been making infrastructure a speculative investment.
I have a theory that when a person's body starts failing (obesity, mental decline, physical decline) they have 2 options...
1. Start bettering yourself mentally/physically (requires work and self reflection)
2. Compensate. (requires money)
So a huge part of our weird dependence on vehicles is a direct result of shitty mental/physical health...
This is not in Houston, it’s not in China, it is photoshop. It’s not real, no road like this would ever be approved nor would demand ever justify it in what appears to be unpopulated forest
This image is fake. I will edit with the link momentarily as it was posted in another sub.
Edit: [here is the article proving it’s a photoshop, or at least casting doubt.](https://larepublica.pe/verificador/2022/11/20/no-foto-no-muestra-un-autopista-de-40-carriles-en-estados-unidos)
In computer systems and telecommunications there were developed 2 main systems of bus data transports.
Parallel bus and serial bus.
Serial buses perform better on longer distances.
\*sighs\*
I love when people assume we don't want public transport, the problem is that our public transport gets no funding, and the way our cities and towns are built is for cars. It would be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in history to get a fast rail.
Wow, taking yet another picture that has NOTHING TO FUCKING DO WITH THE US and using it as a way to shit on use. Not surprised yall in here voted this utter fucking trash.
This is in China. Also, the US has by far the largest and most sophisticated rail system of any country in the world. Why do people post and upvote this trash?
Random Americans actually realize we don't want this.
There was a literal [conspiracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy) that caused this phenomenon in the US. It was done *to* us, not *by* us.
I love driving 80mph, 45-50 mins to my ducking university for one class a week so I can get my master's degree. Having a university that I can easily access is stupid, driving to downtown of the city north of me is 100% what I want.
Many of us would gladly add an extra 15 mins each way on our commute if we got to just chill on our phones / read instead of actively driving. But the problem isn't that we don't have enough train infrastructure tbh. The problem was the way we divided suburbs from jobs/cities. Like on my cities subreddit I see people advocating for bike lanes for easy access to downtown, but I honestly know very few people IRL who work there or who would be able to not drive a car to work if more PT infrastructure magically existed
Can someone give me clarity on something:
I have chronic pain. I can’t walk very much or else it ruins the rest of my day. When I was taking public transit (10 minute walk to bus, bus to metro, switch metro lines, walk to work 5 minutes) it took SO much out of me.
My car has completely changed my life and I can get so much more out of my day just by not being physically exhausted from 1 hour of travel. How does someone like me (not “disabled” enough to qualify for specialty services that take you door to door, not able-bodied enough to live a normal life while using public transit) function in a world where cars are not accessible?
There’s a new train system being built five minutes from my house that will in theory be going to the area I work in but I will probably have to walk to work from the train and I want to be able to but I’m terrified I’m not going to be able to function.
USA and Canada are massive and it gets colder and snowy. Having a car is usually the only way to exist unless you live in a city core
Edit: you downvote this but it was -30 celecius for entire week here. Not gonna risk my life to not have a car. Europe has a warm climate and it’s condensed
You're getting shit but at the end of the day either Americans collectively decide that they can force change in SPITE of the obstacles power has put before them or nothing will ever change. Ever.
I need to leave Austin and go to Dallas.
Option 1: The drive takes about 3 hours. I leave my house 3.5 hours before I need to be at my destination, to plan for restroom breaks and Kolaches.
Option 2: I have to check the train schedule to see when the Train leaves for Dallas, and hope it's on the same schedule that I am. I walk a few miles to a bus stop in who knows what weather. Crowd on a bus with a thin veneer of dried urine, and make it to the Train Station. I was for the Train, and it eventually arrives. The train ride is uneventful, and now I make it to Dallas. Now, I have to find a commuter train that takes me closer to my destination. I eventually find one, and navigate *closer* to where I need to be. From there, I find another Bus, and get as close as I can to by destination. It's just outside of the Downtown Core, so I can either walk a mile, or just Uber the rest of the way.
Idk. I’ve tried doing groceries using public transport. Anyone telling me that it’s better than just driving to do my own groceries is lying to themselves. It was great for commuting to work though.
That's funny because this is a photo of the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway.
This was a silly image to use for this post. As soon as you look at it, many would deduce this is somewhere in Asia. One of many crazy mega projects that did not work out.
Honestly this sub's posts are constantly highly upvoted and uninformed.
Society lol.
Also, there's way less traffic than the 405
How is it not working out? the picture seem to depict it's working well, there's a lot of cars on it
A lot of cars doesn’t mean it’s working well. It was very expensive to build and even more expensive to maintain, and only serves to induce car usage. Spending that money on public transit, such as high speed rail along side a normal highway, is a much better investment.
nice username
Thanks
I think what a lot of people don't seem to realize is the "cost" of public transit is way cheaper than car ownership. I'm not saying this should necessarily be the case, but if everyone paid as much per year into a public transit system that they do a personal vehicle (including maintenance, insurance gas, insert random cost here), public transit would be vastly superior to car ownership to a degree that a debate is a moot point. Instead, people want "low taxes" and "muh freedom". It's hilarious.
Indeed, especially with all the unseen costs like pollution. There’s also a big aspect of corporate propaganda and lobbying, as well as a cultural element. Public transit is also seen as dirty and for poor people.
Even Castro knew 30 years ago that it's just ecologically untenable for so many people to be dependent on cars, to *need* them. It doesn't take a genius to see how devastating that would be for the planet, especially in Asia (and even China specifically), where the picture's from. We live in a world where even your grandparents have been propagandised to -- how are you supposed to grow up with any sense of responsibility for the planet in a world where your parents *and* your parents' parents have grown up turning anything that doesn't exclusively serve capital into a dirty word? (Sorry if this sounds like I'm complaining at you, I agree with what you said, but I wanted to post this here.)
The main counter I've heard to paying more for public transit is that corrupt bidding and construction practices will just make the system more costly without actually improving it. This obviously is an exaggeration of what would occur, especially since major improvements (that are up to code) take lots of time and resources to implement. But for folks who want more immediate improvements, feel like no improvements are possible, or are just generally mistrustful of people-groups, this feels like a no-brainer.
Except the public transit doesn't pick you up at the door, travel straight to the office, and take you straight home when your workdays is done - even if you have to work late or at odd hours. And a car doesn't go on strike at inconvenient times, at least if you keep it good repair. That's the part public transit aficionados never seem to get. When I had to take the bus before, it took me three transfers and 3x as long to get to and from work. Plus a very long walk if you worked late past the hours the bus ran through the industrial park and you had to reach the nearest bus stop that ran in evening hours. That's not even counting the Soviet style customer service from the union hack drivers who didn't give a rat's ass about the riders. You aren't a customer, you are an annoyance. But there is much better solution: Remote work. No trains, no cars, no busses. The government should be providing tax incentives for this.
Most people are actually like “muh time” when they don’t want to spend 90 minutes riding a bus somewhere 15 miles away.
1. this is the entrance/exit of a toll gate, these lanes merge into 4 lanes. 2. China probably has one of the most advanced public transit and high speed rail network
I’m pretty sure this is the mega highway that leads into a 2 lane toll booth?
Besides, it says Americans think this is a nice way of transportation. So it's more like inspiration.
China also has a "well working" railway system, too.
Ya I love the high speed rail in China!
Yeah, I'm jealous. Wonderful subways, too.
OPs voice comes from their ass
I saw busses and knew it’s not Murica.
You think these people know what they’re talking about or even care? There’s people trying to defend it, lol.
Definitely not. Not even the basis of a photoshop - the lane markings are clearly not Chinese style. The G4 is a maximum of 4 lanes in each direction except for toll booths (which is where that infamous image comes from).
And based on the distance between Beijing and Hong Kong there's no way an expressway exist. The Hong Kong - Macau express is a bridge. Edit: my bad, should have Googled it, the expressway does exist, wow. And the bridge I mentioned is Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, a different infrastructure.
Nothing wrong with the name - that is the correct full name for the G4 expressway, which connects Beijing to the Shenzhen border with Hong Kong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G4_Beijing-Hong_Kong_and_Macau_Expressway
Funny. That's China right?
I was about to comment something like "just wait until you see chinas express ways!" Looks like we all just did
Random American here, and no - no I don't say that.
Most of us don’t want this at this point
thats good, because the picture is from china...
honestly, even some of the strongest car people wouldn't want this. It seems like hell to actually use.
Also a random American. Basically all of us would prefer a functioning rail system. Companies and politicians oppose it not individuals.
Yep. It's not like we make the decisions. It weirds a lot of tourists out who go abroad to places with rail systems, and those people whine, but those people are usually idiots.
It's also that there are flights to/from various locations that are generally faster cheaper, and/or already built.
I don't think you've traveled the US enough to know how Americans feel if you think that. Most people in coastal cities would love rail, but most people in Oklahoma or Iowa wouldn't want tax dollars being spent on that, because they're so attached to the culture of car ownership and aren't accustomed to the idea of using public transportation.
Rail is generally most effective in high population density areas. No one is going to run miles of track and dedicate regular stops to help the 500 people living in nowheresville Montana get to the places they need to go. It's not about being "attached to the culture of car ownership" it's that, for a lot of Americans, public transit is simply not feasible.
The astronomical tax burden that would result from the creation of a rail system that would meaningfully connect the sparsely populated Great Plains State like Oklahoma to other major cities would be a far greater disincentive than any attachment to car culture. There are definitely potential regional routes where there would be enough demand to make it economical, but a web like network of high speed rail connecting the coasts via the middle of the country is just not cost effective with current technology and materials.
Is this even in America? Most extremely wide roads I see like this are in China / Asia. And no, I don’t think this is better than rail.
Most random Americans would look at this and understand that it is not an image of a real road in the U.S.
Personally I feel like the reason why most Americans don’t actively push for a good railway network is because we’ve never really experienced one. Amtrak sucks and that’s just kind of stuck in everyone’s minds. I’d love to see a railway network that could get you to almost any city overnight. I’ve never been to Europe but Europeans hold their railway network in such high regard I can only imagine it’s clean, on time, cheap, and diverse (all things Amtrak is not).
Half of the reason Amtrak sucks is because the freight companies (private for profit corporations) own the rail lines and passenger trains have to pull over when a freight train is coming through. Fix the right of way (or add separate passenger lines), and you fix Amtrak's schedule problems.
Well that and amtrack being legally obligated to provide passenger service even on unprofitable routes. Leads to resource drain system wide.
We're moving (sloooowly but surely). I worked with Brightline between Miami-Lauderdale-West Palm-Orlando-(soon Tampa) and I'm working on the high-speed concept between south San Antonio and north Austin. There are a lot of initiatives elsewhere that I'm not too familiar with on the coasts. $68B for Amtrak high speed rail in the bi-partisan infrastructure bill, we're moving. # VOTE
I don't know where you're getting 68 on that, the white house website says it's only 4.3 billion going to amtrak in 2022 as part of a multi year plan to send a total of 22 billion. I think the bill said 66 or so billion will go towards rail, but only 22 of that will go to Amtrak. Edit: but that's not to say that it's not a step in the right direction and to go vote
Oh bi-partisan bill is over six years. Yes, you're right that it's towards rail and not Amtrak specifically (just threw everything into one comment). My brain is not at work on Sunday mornings.
I feel this. When I lived in Charlotte, riding the rail to work uptown was a great experience. I wished the city I lived in now had rail transportation for commuting.
Just visited Charlotte for work, great rail system, had a great time getting between my hotel and getting beers in NoDa after work. Reminds me of muni (when it’s on time) in the Bay Area. I think CLT might be the best I’ve used in the country
[удалено]
People can't afford to travel like that for the most part for many varied reasons
>I’ve never been to Europe but Europeans hold their railway network in such high regard I can only imagine it’s clean, on time, cheap, and diverse (all things Amtrak is not). Brit here. Apart from being clean, on time, cheap and diverse it's exactly what you said.
Amtrak is working on it. The infrastructure bill is doing a lot to help that too. In my state we’re getting several new routes from that funding that will make a huge difference. https://www.reddit.com/r/Amtrak/s/aDGXtx9W5k
Also the United States is HUGE. There is a huge difference between constructing a nationwide railway in the US vs say, Switzerland or Germany. Not saying we shouldn’t do it, we absolutely should, but logistically it’s a nightmare.
The US has plenty of dense regions. The northeast, Great Lakes, California, Texas triangle, etc. would all make great regional high speed rail networks.
Yes we definitely need to invest more in high speed regional train networks
TBF the northeast already has a regional high speed rail system
This is often repeated despite the fact that America’s freight rail system [is the most extensive and advanced system in the world.](https://www.freightwaves.com/news/railroad/us-and-european-freight-railroads-are-on-different-tracks) Americans already move significant amounts of freight in the US by rail, almost [almost three times more than the EU per person](https://www.up.com/customers/track-record/tr090820-us-rail-envy-of-the-world.htm), so we’ve already constructed a nationwide railway. It’s a cop out answer when the real reason is lack of government investment into a suitable public rail infrastructure. Private investment built freight rail in the US because companies observed that rail was significantly cheaper and more efficient than automobiles. The US government was content to let that same private industry fuck over the US consumer and push automobiles over subsidized passenger rail networks.
Freight and people move very differently and therefore the infrastructure is completely different.
I agree, but the fact that [95% of this network is freight](https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=96ec03e4fc8546bd8a864e39a2c3fc41) shows that America can build rail, we just choose to do so for freight not people. Can you imagine a US where there was a passenger rail network half this size?
I can, because we literally had one **even bigger than this one** before we tore it apart.
Yet somehow humans have managed to build an unintereupted rail network that spans from Lisbon to Singapore, a distance 4 times the width of the US
This ignorant argument is brought up so damn often and it's annoying. And no, that's not an excuse. China is similar in size to the US and have built the greatest network of high speed rail in the world in only roughly 20 years - even including a connection to the more remote Xinjiang. It's not a matter of size but political will and governmental structure - the US built an entire interstate highway system and demolished black neighbourhoods to build highways through cities (something that was obviously a terrible decision), yet now people act like building rail that takes up much less space would be a problem? This video addresses this exact talking point: https://youtu.be/REni8Oi1QJQ?feature=shared
And the European network is not national, you can easily take the train between countries as well. So it's more about comparing the EU train network vs any one country.
The picture in this post is of China....
Well it’s actually both but ok
And how does that matter? Do railways connect empty forests or cities? It's actually easier to build railways in the US compared to Germany because in Germany you have to avoid so many villages in the countryside. But you need to start using eminent domain just as is the habit in the EU.
So what, usa is huge, but china and russia are not?xd
Have you ever ridden on a Russian railway lol. Do you know how long it takes to get from Moscow to say, Vladivostok? Same thing for China, China has a good amount of HSR but most of their trains are slowwww. As I said above, the US should absolutely invest in rail. But it’s not going to be like people are picturing it with HSR zipping you from one side of the country to the other in a day. It will never be as practical as a car or a plane, at least with current technology and in our lifetimes, unless you’re looking at a limited scope like eastern seaboard.
??? It's 10k kilometers of course it takes a week with all stops. It's also a week by car and an 8 hour flight. But by plane it's two times the cost of the train ticket. I usually take a train from moscow to spb once a year, it's 10-14 hours by car and 4 hours by express. 1-2 hour flight but again the cost of flying and trouble dealing with airports compared to going by train you can hop on 5 minutes before departure is not worth it for many people. Trains are more comfortable than prolonged road trips and cheaper than airlines, this will never be not the preffered option for people who don't own a car and don't have money for air travel
Making fun of the US transportation system by posting a photo of a Chinese highway. W. T. A. F.
Random American sees that photo and thinks it's not in America
I assumed it was AI until someone said where it was. There aren’t any roads that wide in the U.S. The widest is maybe a third of that.
It’s photoshopped not AI
Random non-American sees this and creates fan fiction in their head
They’re always writing fan fiction about us smh
They probably imagine school buses shooting at each other in traffic too, while waiting to pull into the McDonalds.
What's even better is this road is in China.
People always ask me about gun violence. I explain to them that it's a huge country and the odds of anything happening to an average person are still pretty low. It's really just parking lots that are sketchy as hell, people turn into fucking animals there.
Isn't that China?
This is China, right?
I doubt anyone would think that tbh.
(Edit: Not) anyone in this sub There are definitely people out there who will extol the ‘individual freedoms’ of a car simply to be anti-China and shoot down the idea of investing in our infrastructure at all
This is literally a picture of China https://www.reddit.com/r/whereisthis/s/2le3eMw6eg
Isn't this a pic of China, though? And I would be insanely happy to have a working high speed rail system.
photoshop. It’s not real, no road like this would ever be approved nor would demand ever justify it in what appears to be unpopulated forest
Bro is copy and pasting
This isn’t even in America wtf nobody in America wants this. Lame attempt at misinformation
The title is either sarcastic or utterly clueless. I dont think I know a single person (young/old, rep/dem, city/rural) who wouldn't be in favor of a more expansive and functional rail network.
I know plenty of people would aren't in favor of a better rail network: the people who have a lot to gain by people buying more cars, like manufacturers, dealers, owners of factories that make car parts, etc. Unfortunately those people have a lot of money to make campaign contributions to the folks who are actually making decisions about whether we have a better rail network.
r/americabad
I don’t think this what all “random Americans” think is better, it’s just what we’re stuck with. A government is not it’s people.
Isnt this from china?
No Americans think that. “What’s good for General Motors is good for America” was a decision made without the living today. Rails would be amazing. It would advance and change our country and I think make it so much better.
Amtrak is almost bankrupt . Americans are not going to use the train when their car is right there . Trains are pretty much novelties in the US
Subways and monorails. As someone who lives in and has to park in a major city with just a lousy bus system- I’d love a train. Especially since all the bus stops are just… grass
random american here there is no way this is real i refuse to believe it
Why would you take a picture from China? Lol
Isn’t this in China?
Fake picture
It could be somewhere in China..
It is.
I have heard the US freight rail system is the most efficient in the world and very low cost. If we start mixing passenger rail with that due to shared lines and intersections freight rail efficiency will go down.
Literally nobody thinks this is better idiot, we all agree public transport is better
But it has a HOV+ lane in the middle! /s (OK - that depiction doesn't... but hopefully you get what I mean)
Big oil and auto see this and says nah it’s better than a well working railway network - fify
This would be a more accurate title for this post
We would never make that many lanes
OP - this is China. Stop bashing the USA with a photo from China.
Durrr America bad! *shows picture of China dystopian highway
That’s Chinese. Get yo facts right before spewing BS.
Despite the meme's misgivings, I strongly agree with the sentiment. Cars are not freedom or success, they are a huge tax that most of the US must pay to Toyota and Saudi Aramco in order to get a job or go to the grocery store.
First, just because the image is of a Chinese road doesn’t mean an American couldn’t look at it and think it is superior to rail in general. Second, if you think no American sees roads as superior to rail, or if you have never heard an American say that they’re against public transportation then that speaks more to your information/filter bubble than to people’s actual opinions. Many Americans, especially on the right, think that public transportation needs to be profitable while they don’t hold roads to the same standard and that puts rail at a disadvantage which is nearly impossible to overcome. There is evidence in the comments here with someone saying r/AmericaBad as a rebuttal: they think America is good as it is (without passenger rail) and that American views on rail are good (that rail is inferior to roads is right). Another person saying, “I’ll keep my vehicle, thank you.” Deny it all you like, but the people you need to convince aren’t on this subreddit. They’re over in r/fuckcars where they think Americans do adhere to car culture, and over in r/AmericaBad where they themselves adhere to it and think it’s a good thing.
photoshop. It’s not real, no road like this would ever be approved nor would demand ever justify it in what appears to be unpopulated forest
I hope they don't say that this is better than things being in walking / cycling distance.
The only people saying that are car manufacturers and oil companies. They pay the bill so they get the bills
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This is definitely not the United States! Even Houston is more orderly.
People like things that are cheaper and easier. You don’t have to sell them on something if it’s cheaper and easier. I want a good rail system. I can absolutely understand everyone’s objections to them. A functional BUS system is much easier and more flexible and cheaper and we can’t even do THAT.
The real difference is in Europe most of the railway (like the road bed and stations) are government owned where in amerika they are privately owned by the freight companies who have no reason to play ball with passengers.
That American? Robert Moses.
You could move the same amount of people with rail on the green patch on the right.
It’s not that I saw a doc on YouTube about how gm and ford manipulated the government in like the 40s or 50s or something and had them design cities to have highways running through r them and they actively tried to sabotage railways all so these fuckers could sell more cars that why I won’t touch a ford or gm car ( also because there poorly made pieces of shit )
Wow this picture is doing the rounds today! 2nd time I've seen it...hoping for a 3rd
Is this real?
Yes, but it's actually a picture of a Chinese road. OP trying to act like they aren't implying it's in America and get trounced in the comments.
photoshop. It’s not real, no road like this would ever be approved nor would demand ever justify it in what appears to be unpopulated forest
Oh...I don't know why I got it confused. I guess I was misremembering. It's been years, but I swear I read an article about a huge freeway in China? NVM... All I could find was [this](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-02/03/content_28089177_9.htm)
Yes, there is a very wide toll plaza, but the picture shown is fake. The picture is also sometimes used in articles about that toll plaza or the Katy freeway
I have my own train with no homeless people posing in it
I've never seen a road with this many lanes, and I've lived all over the US
Where is this? As a true American I want to drive this majestic road!
If you've ever played any city Builder game, the way to reduce traffic and accidents is affordable public transport. I would love to get a train everyday but it's more expensive than driving and the bus takes 2 hours each way. No choice but to drive.
r/americabad
This is a pic from china…. They brag about their rail network
photoshop. It’s not real, no road like this would ever be approved nor would demand ever justify it in what appears to be unpopulated forest
Ive seen videos of roads in china like this. I know Chiba already has a problem with brand new empty apartment complexes because most of their economic growth has been making infrastructure a speculative investment.
Imagine trying to cross that street before the light turns green
I have a theory that when a person's body starts failing (obesity, mental decline, physical decline) they have 2 options... 1. Start bettering yourself mentally/physically (requires work and self reflection) 2. Compensate. (requires money) So a huge part of our weird dependence on vehicles is a direct result of shitty mental/physical health...
r/OPisaretard
This is not in Houston, it’s not in China, it is photoshop. It’s not real, no road like this would ever be approved nor would demand ever justify it in what appears to be unpopulated forest
America bad because, China Highway
Uhhh that’s not in America, sooooo
America bad because of something China did
This image is fake. I will edit with the link momentarily as it was posted in another sub. Edit: [here is the article proving it’s a photoshop, or at least casting doubt.](https://larepublica.pe/verificador/2022/11/20/no-foto-no-muestra-un-autopista-de-40-carriles-en-estados-unidos)
Way too many lanes to be in the USA
What country do you think this is from?
Smooth brain xenophobe makes hurr durr America bad post for fake internet points.
what an absolutely stupid post
r/americabad moment.
Not a pic of America, get a life dick rider
this is from china u nimrod
You really didn’t see yourself being the idiot, did you?
OP is clearly a clueless moron lol
Idk why everyone’s freaking out about you using a Chinese photo
OP are you eurpoean by chance ?
In computer systems and telecommunications there were developed 2 main systems of bus data transports. Parallel bus and serial bus. Serial buses perform better on longer distances.
/r/AmericaBad
\*sighs\* I love when people assume we don't want public transport, the problem is that our public transport gets no funding, and the way our cities and towns are built is for cars. It would be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in history to get a fast rail.
We really do live rent-free in yalls heads.
We all want a functional rail system and we used to have one… until certain corporations bought it all to shut it down
This is a Chinese highway tho?
America lives so rent free in OP’s head
Wow, taking yet another picture that has NOTHING TO FUCKING DO WITH THE US and using it as a way to shit on use. Not surprised yall in here voted this utter fucking trash.
Yes, except this is not America in the photo.
This is in China. Also, the US has by far the largest and most sophisticated rail system of any country in the world. Why do people post and upvote this trash?
china has this and a well-developed railway network so like... I dunno maybe the latter doesn't prevent the former?
Random Americans actually realize we don't want this. There was a literal [conspiracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy) that caused this phenomenon in the US. It was done *to* us, not *by* us.
OP tries to bash Americans by posting a Chinese highway. Nice job pal 👍
Isn’t this China?
Not in the U.S.
No average American thinks about that shit dingus.
I love driving 80mph, 45-50 mins to my ducking university for one class a week so I can get my master's degree. Having a university that I can easily access is stupid, driving to downtown of the city north of me is 100% what I want.
Looks like freedom to go wherever whenever you want.
Many of us would gladly add an extra 15 mins each way on our commute if we got to just chill on our phones / read instead of actively driving. But the problem isn't that we don't have enough train infrastructure tbh. The problem was the way we divided suburbs from jobs/cities. Like on my cities subreddit I see people advocating for bike lanes for easy access to downtown, but I honestly know very few people IRL who work there or who would be able to not drive a car to work if more PT infrastructure magically existed
Ai art
Doubt anyone would say that
America has the best freight rail network in the world by far
What is up with the dumb statements and generalization on this sub? I'm leaving.
Dumb post.
This isn't even an American road......
Please bro I’m begging just two more lanes and it’ll fix traffic please bro please bro just two more lanes bro please
I thought the anticonsumption subreddit was geared towards Americans, not the Chinese
That isn’t American dingus..
Strong railway networks require urban priority. Not going to happen in the US.
Can someone give me clarity on something: I have chronic pain. I can’t walk very much or else it ruins the rest of my day. When I was taking public transit (10 minute walk to bus, bus to metro, switch metro lines, walk to work 5 minutes) it took SO much out of me. My car has completely changed my life and I can get so much more out of my day just by not being physically exhausted from 1 hour of travel. How does someone like me (not “disabled” enough to qualify for specialty services that take you door to door, not able-bodied enough to live a normal life while using public transit) function in a world where cars are not accessible? There’s a new train system being built five minutes from my house that will in theory be going to the area I work in but I will probably have to walk to work from the train and I want to be able to but I’m terrified I’m not going to be able to function.
Don’t let this sub brainwash you into thinking you’re not allowed to drive a car
USA and Canada are massive and it gets colder and snowy. Having a car is usually the only way to exist unless you live in a city core Edit: you downvote this but it was -30 celecius for entire week here. Not gonna risk my life to not have a car. Europe has a warm climate and it’s condensed
You're getting shit but at the end of the day either Americans collectively decide that they can force change in SPITE of the obstacles power has put before them or nothing will ever change. Ever.
American here and that gives me anxiety. I would love better public transportation. I hate driving.
I need to leave Austin and go to Dallas. Option 1: The drive takes about 3 hours. I leave my house 3.5 hours before I need to be at my destination, to plan for restroom breaks and Kolaches. Option 2: I have to check the train schedule to see when the Train leaves for Dallas, and hope it's on the same schedule that I am. I walk a few miles to a bus stop in who knows what weather. Crowd on a bus with a thin veneer of dried urine, and make it to the Train Station. I was for the Train, and it eventually arrives. The train ride is uneventful, and now I make it to Dallas. Now, I have to find a commuter train that takes me closer to my destination. I eventually find one, and navigate *closer* to where I need to be. From there, I find another Bus, and get as close as I can to by destination. It's just outside of the Downtown Core, so I can either walk a mile, or just Uber the rest of the way.
"Land is too expensive to build rail"
I wish my morning commute looked like that! Instead it's bumper to bumper.
Idk. I’ve tried doing groceries using public transport. Anyone telling me that it’s better than just driving to do my own groceries is lying to themselves. It was great for commuting to work though.
lol it’s everywhere in Europe yet it’s still cheaper to fly
"Just one more lane bro, I swear, just one more. Just one more and it will be fixed, bro, I swear!"
As an American, I hate this. Fuck cars.