I had some vacation time and I’ve never ridden a train before, so I thought I’d look it up. I’d seen a few YouTube videos and it looked like something I’d like. I’m not a fan of air travel at all.

I went to look up tickets and was shocked at the price. I could drive for cheaper and faster including my own stops. I could fly for cheaper and faster and wouldn’t have to pay for a sleeper car or hotel. It seems like there’s no benefit to taking a train at all. Even the hassle of flying is worth the time and money saved.

Ps and why does a sleeper car (the thing that had me curious from YouTube) $1000/night?!

  • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    52·
    24 hours ago

    It sucks because trains are great, but money and regulations are the general answer. Air travel gets tons of kickbacks from the government, and most airlines don’t even pay taxes on fuel. Also planes fly on the air but trains need rails, land to put it on and maintenance to keep it running.

    • CentipedeFarrier@piefed.socialEnglish
      11·
      15 hours ago

      Whats really sad is… genuinely every town I’ve -ever been to- had a train station. Most of them have been converted into other things, the rest torn down. But they were there.

      We had the whole system of rail already spanning most of the country. And stopped maintaining it. 😭😭

      I rode a train for the first time last year because it cut the worst part of the drive into/out of a big city off, and wasn’t -too- expensive. So instead of dealing with a car in a place I’m not comfortable driving, we parked where I was comfortable and took the train the rest of the way (appx 2 hrs, if there had been a closer station to board we’d have used it, but had to drive 1.5 hrs just to get to the train), then walked. Could have also used the local light rail once we got there but didn’t need to. I fucking loved everything about riding a train! From not driving, to not driving, to holy shit it’s a train, and even not driving! Best trip, and I wish it were practical to make all of them that way. I hate driving.

    • Petersson@feddit.org
      22·
      22 hours ago

      Also planes fly on the air but trains need rails, land to put it on and maintenance to keep it running.

      Thousands of airports, plane maintenance crews, airplane security crews and all the money put in general airplane infrastructure ceased to exist after reading that sentence