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It's twice the price of a flight, and with planes you can pick between 3 major airports in SFBA and 5 in LA, which are probably closer to the locations you're really going between.
Wow, it's almost like there's demand for a high-speed, non-driving land route between LA and SF. If only we had a fixed route land vehicle that could provide a smooth, direct route that had enough space for people to do things like sleep, rest, and use the bathroom. Maybe I'll call this idea 'a high-speed train' and propose that California build one between LA and SF... oh wait.
Only seems to be one day a week it runs per direction?
They appear to be initially targeting the customer who wants to take a weekend trip to LA from SF or vice versa. That’s a high volume route, which also makes it super competitive for air travel. It seems a round trip flight costs on the order of a one way Cabin bus ride, so I assume they are targeting customers who have chosen not to fly for personal reasons.
> During our one-year pilot, road turbulence was a frequent guest complaint. Cabin G2 introduces our proprietary bump-canceling technology, Cabin Cloud. Beneath select cabins, a suite of sensors, electric motors and control algorithms instantly respond to road imperfections by moving a guest’s bed up or down to control the vibration. The technology transforms a bump that would take a passenger out of the deepest slee…
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Because China can tell you “hey you don’t live here anymore” and plow right through neighborhoods and farms. Our property rights in the US are pretty absolute.
And China has access to cheap workers, and in China's hybrid capitalist/socialist economy they are able to do unprofitable projects. Most of their high speed rail routes are unprofitable.
Likewise, in American areas with good rail transport, you see business boom around it. The net gain in commerce, sales tax revenue, etc. cannot easily be measured, but it's significant and American could benefit greatly with better rail transport. You'd see America begin to collapse in and become less spread out within less than 50 years (especially in urban spaces).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because China can tell you “hey you don’t live here anymore” and plow right through neighborhoods and farms. Our property rights in the US are pretty absolute.
And China has access to cheap workers, and in China's hybrid capitalist/socialist economy they are able to do unprofitable projects. Most of their high speed rail routes are unprofitable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Two words “eminent domain”. The government, both federal and state (depending on the state) can absolutely obtain your land with zero recourse. They’ll pay you for it, but you don’t get a choice.
The paying for land is a huge cost center for massive construction projects. Especially ones that require a 400 mile unbroken piece of land. Not to mention you can tie even eminent domain up in litigation for years.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm all for high speed rail, but why is it so expensive and why does it take so long to build? China has been able to build out a high speed network fairly quickly. Why is it that? Is it just because they're cutting corners?
Because China can tell you “hey you don’t live here anymore” and plow right through neighborhoods and farms. Our property rights in the US are pretty absolute.
From a legal perspective eminent powers can be exercised quite efficiently. They haven't been exercised efficiently in California because of politics. HSR officials spend far too long haggling with farmers and pay much more than a court would require in an attempt to minimize negative media attention. But it has backfired by drawing things out and ballooning costs.