![[meme] Trains -- not driverless cars -- are the future of transportation](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f6468af5-8151-4b4c-b339-2fa0b0373c3a.webp){kind=link}
Image transcript:
Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) sitting at a lemonade stand, smiling, with a sign that reads, “Trains and micromobility are inevitably the future of urban transportation, whether society wants it or not. CHANGE MY MIND.”
Image transcript:
Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) sitting at a lemonade stand, smiling, with a sign that reads, “Trains and micromobility are inevitably the future of urban transportation, whether society wants it or not. CHANGE MY MIND.”
This has been my sticking point with trains. In theory, it sounds fantastic and I’m all for it. The problem is is that Having a vehicle is so much nicer. Air conditioned and private transportation, whenever you want. Listen to what you want, go where you want.
Maybe if the train was much more convenient? I like the idea for travel more.
If you look at old maps of streetcar networks in cities (before they ripped up the tracks to replace them with cars), one thing that stands out is just how dense the networks were. For instance, here’s the old Montreal streetcar map:
Versus the modern-day Montreal metro map:
And Montreal has some of the best modern-day urbanism in North America, mind you; most cities are far worse. But it really makes you imagine what our cities could be like if we made many/most streets car-free and just had ultra-dense networks of trams again. Maybe even cargo trams to deliver goods to stores as well. Trains would be ubiquitous and ultra-convenient.
It’s because we built everything to be car-scale and then the metro states had to adapt to that
Crappy.
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Public transit has this technology.
Headphones.
Public transit can solve these problems with more frequency and routes. Sometimes public transit goes places private transport can’t!
Can’t do this one.
For long-distance travel, sleeper cars on trains are even better – you can’t close the curtains and go to sleep if you’re driving across the country.
For short-distance travel, bikes and scooters!
Great point! Sleeper car rail in Canada is so terrible I tend to forget it exists.
Ehh, it’s more like comparing a hostel to a hotel room.
Would you trade your private bathroom for a public one? Considering you already had a private bathroom, going to a public one is a downgrade.
Or, hell, just get one of those foldable ebikes that are all the rage these days. Technology is coming for cars just as it came for horses and nobody even realizes it.
I recently bought a car for the first time in a decade. Driving is hell.