Originally Posted by FloggingSully

"Highways get used..... Trains dont.

And dont try to say "If you build it, they will come." We HAD them. We like cars better. For all sorts of reasons.

Luckily there are still a few rational politicians left who know we can throw all the money in the world at trains here America, but AMERICANS JUST DONT WANT THEM. Get over it!"

-Highways get used because they are usually more convenient than trains, they are more convenient because trains don't exist most places. Have you ever met someone who lived in an area with good public transit (Boston, DC, NY, Chicago) and prefered commuting by car instead of train?
Well Sully, by the traffic present on I-95 ALONE it appears that most people vote with their pocketbooks and their cars. And they are STILL choosing the automobile. Never forget we HAD rail dominance once before and it died for a reason. It was SLOOOOOOWWWWW.

-We had them, we liked cars better because we didn't have the same congestion problems and cas was really cheap, as gas get's more expensive more people will want to ride public transit. My girlfriend rides a bus and a train to work everyday and says that they're getting more and more crowded everyday, so apparently some people want public transit. And there are plenty of people (myself included) who would love to have an option of riding public transit to work every day.

I wouldnt doubt that some are making that choice in the very crowded cities. But that is only a small segment of the working public. In addition to time, Americans LOVE their privacy. They want to listen to their radio stations, drive at their pace and stop when they want. But the fact remains,... If you build it, they still wont come... as Amtrack proved. Even high gas prices wont change the vast majority of American habit.

-Hopefully we'll have enough "rational politicians" to realize that people want public transit, if we invested as much money in public transit as we do in roads/highways we'd be about as worried about $4/gallon gas as the Europeans.
If they wanted it Sully, the train between OKC and Dallas wouldnt be deserted and I DO mean deserted. I dont want to waste $billions if not $trillions to findout what America has been saying for over 70 years. They LOVE their car and the FREEDOM that it brings.