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Amtrak

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My mom and dad took a train (to denver I believe) thinking it would be fun and they hated it.
 
I wish USA wasnt so far behind a lot of countries in transportation. USA really ****ed up catering to cars over everything else. Even here in China I can get to every major city pretty fast on a high speed train. Trains going 200-300 mph is a great way to get around. Plus you can get all sorts of food, bring whatever on and walk around, oh and they all have good wifi or 4g/5g connections. I prefer it to flying unless the time is a lot longer. The price is usually pretty reasonable. Even the business class tickets where you can lay down and reasonable. They do have the slow sleeper type trains, but who on earth wants to take that length of trip?

I dont know why you would ever take the train in the USA except to experience being on a train. But just go ride the Heber Creeper or something. Rent a car if you dont want to fly, its so cheap and way faster than a train. Plus you have a car to get around in when you are there. That will also save you money over flying/train.

Their trains go 200-300mph? That seems like hyperbole.
 
Some guy I used to work with was opposed to self driving cars and public transportation because freedom and that's how the government can track and control where you go.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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