American corporations perhaps aren’t as interested in public transportation, because there is no money to be made. And that is who is largely funding this self-driving vehicle research.
So… Apparently not…
The USA is probably the worst place in the world for 1) high speed trains 2) buses. And the only place I know where the train _waits_ for cars to go through.
If only they could see by themselves how bad it is during their next trip to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, London, Paris (even France in general) and many many other countries and cities that have a functional network of high speed trains, metro, tramway and regional lines…
I hope you’re not ready to die on that hill.
Some have light rail but at a far smaller rate then cities in Europe.
There are tiny cities in Europe that have more light rail then cities 10x the size in North America.
My tiny town of less then 100k people literally has more extensive bus and train connection then most cities in the US that have million+ people.
> But in a big country with a spread-out population, public transportation is tough.
Compare for example Switzerland (lots of maintains, rivers, hills and so on), with a equally sized metro area like Torronto, Dalles and so on.
The reality is many of your metro areas are the literal exact opposite of spread out, they are just badly designed.
Zürich for example is a city that has only like 600k people, with maybe 1.5M in the larger metro area and Zürich has more trains and trams going then whole Texas city triangle.
So please stop with the excuse about how everything is so spread out in the US. Its not spread out, its just badly designed.
This is oft-repeated, but it doesn't really survive a moment's scrutiny. You might as well say it's pointless to build a path from your back door to your shed, because the county is just too big.
Nobody cares about the Rockies or farm fields or Death Valley.