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Comment by andbberger | Hacker News Reader

there absolutely is, SF-LA is an ideal city pair

Do people actually travel between SF and LA?

It makes sense in the east coast: traveling from the seat of government in DC to the seat of finance in NYC. But does california have that dynamic?

> Do people actually travel between SF and LA?

Yes. The most obvious example of a company that's built around that corridor is Netflix: tech in the Bay Area, film production in L.A.

Outside of work reasons I don't know many people who actually travel between these cities on a regular basis. Maybe once or twice a year for that?

I would argue the east coast works much differently. The traffic patterns are not so much between NYC and DC, but most people moving in and out of dense areas. Much of the Acela is M-F commuter traffic.

If it actually worked like Japan (and China?) maybe? In Japan, if I want to go from Tokyo to Osaka, I just take a local train/subway to the station and buy a ticket for the next bullet train. I can get the tickets on my phone as I'm on the subway (or buy them at the machine at the station). There is always a train within 5-10 minutes. There are trains pretty much every 5 minutes, some are express (5 stops to Osaka), some less express (~12 stops), and some go all they way to Kyushu. The only time this isn't true is the 3-4 weeks a year when everyone travels and the trains are full. On those weeks you need to get tickets in advance.

The point being, it's so convienent I can decide to visit my friends for a picnic and come back the same day (yes I have done this) with no pre-planning. I have not pre-purchased a ticket in years.

I don't expect California to have trains every 5 to 10 minutes. I also expect they might fuck it up like Spain and require baggage inspection. I do expect that if they finish building it (I don't think they will) that by the time they do, Waymo and similar services will be ubiquitous and so it might actually be useful.

there are a ton of nonstop flights between SFO and LAX so i'm going with yes

Anecdotally, I know of someone who used to commute together with a group by private airplane from LA to SF.

Before he moved to Texas Musk used to commute between the Bay Area and LA almost daily.

A number of VCs are based out of the Bay Area but actually live in LA (or did, before the Palisades Fire).

Yes but they take Southwest Airlines which is already really convenient.

>Southwest Airlines

Is it though? My experience with Southwest is that its the worst airline I have ever used.

I have had great experiences with Alaska though. Always fast and efficient, and usually take off ahead of schedule

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