• Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
    91·
    7 months ago

    In America the train costs as much as a plane ticket. Driving is cheaper.

    Damn, is it that bad in the states? I just did a quick lookup for Toronto to Montreal by train, and it’s about the same price as driving (maybe less, depending on the cost of gas that day).

    But the convenience, and not wasting two people’s lives, makes it totally worth taking a train.

    • ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social
      7·
      7 months ago

      Bruh it’s that bad here. Eastern Canadians are lucky, in Western Canada within cities it’s barely acceptable in some cases and as bad as the average US city in many others. You will not find an inter city train in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba that actually connects you to where you want to go. Via Rail is an absolute JOKE and I’m literally hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest station.

      • dankm@lemmy.ca
        2·
        7 months ago

        It’s worse than that. The SK government used to run a bus service all over the province. They shut it down, expecting a private company to take over. To the surprise of absolutely nobody now we have no transportation at all between cities and towns that isn’t the occasional plane or cars.

    • Delusional@lemmy.world
      4·
      7 months ago

      I’m glad to be living on the west coast where we have Amtrak. Amtrak round trip from sac to SF and back is only like $20. Busses pretty much run everywhere in the city too so you don’t absolutely need a car/uber to get around.

    • bluGill@kbin.social
      42·
      7 months ago

      @Showroom7561

      @fuck_cars @DontMindMe @Caradoc879 Pretty much or worse. If you have a family it gets even worse - I’m trying to take my family - 3 kids and driving is the only reasonable option - gas is cheap, 3 nights in hotels on the way, and a few restaurants along the way. We save at least $3000 vs flying - I gave up on Amtrak when I realized it was going to take even longer than driving and was at least $1000 more (I’m not sure if I gave up at one-way price or the round trip price) At that price I can afford to spend a few days in a car. We will just make sure to see something on the way - though having done the trip before I’m not sure what is left.

      • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
        3·
        7 months ago

        No doubt!! You have to consider several factors, and sometimes, taking a car is the best option. But as you say, it works out better when you have an entire family.

        The OP only described one colleague who could have used the train on their own, rather than a single car for two passengers (one of which wasn’t part of the travel). I guess in the OPs case, you’d have to also consider whether they were being paid work hours for that drive.

        So in this case, I think a train (assuming it was accessible and economical) would have been the better option for the OPs colleague. LOL

    • Overzeetop@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      Mostly. If your locality is served by Amtrak - and only a few dozen cities are out of the 3 million square miles of ConUS - then it can be somewhat convenient and cost effective if you plan your travel more than 2-3 months in advance. It’s about 2/3 the speed of car travel, but more comfortable, generally. If you buy tickets less than 3 weeks ahead the prices are about 4x what they are for booking at 3-6 months out. Also, unless you live in one of the 2-3 hub areas, trains run only once or twice a day. For comparison, Last time I checked it’s like £70 to go from London to Aberdeen and takes 7 hours and trains leave every hour or two. From Roanoke to New York - 80 miles closer than the UK route I know of - it’s $200, 9 hours, and only two trains run per day - the first departs at 6:20am, the second at 4:15p (and gets in around 2am). It’s only a 7.5 hour drive and $40-50 in gas to go from Roanoke to NYC, and it’s pretty easy to park outside the city and take a commuter train in.

      Oh, and there’s no workable hub and spoke system due to the few trains and long travel times. My daughter is just 300 miles away at school and the city has a train stop. It’s a 5 hour drive one way. It takes two days and 3 train changes to get from her city to the closest station to me, about a 45 minute drive away. It’s ridiculous.