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Comment by bluGill | Hacker News Reader

That is stupid. people have places to be. Only a tiny minority are on transit for fun. Everyone else just wants to be there. you do these people a massive disservice by not making their ride efficient.

and the minority who are for the ride will figure out how to make it work.

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Even with a job I'd rather spend an hour on a train than 35 minutes in LA traffic. (30 minutes... I guess I'd prefer the stress + a little more time for breakfast. But I'd put a 2x multiplier on not having to drive myself)

Your goal is still being there though, not riding the train. After a few trips you have seen the scenery out the window and just want the trip over with (though maybe you can enjoy the book you are reading most days or whatever you are doing and call it relaxation)

Reading a book is being productive. You can also write, work, or nap. In contrast driving is the biggest waste of time in a persons life. I feel so strongly about this that I’d accept a vastly smaller house just to minimize time travelling. Second best to that is not driving so that I can make use of my time.

What I can't do is start making supper for my family. I can't play games with my family. I can't practice my drums. I can't make chips on my lathe. There is a very long list of things people want to do in life that cannot be done. If what you happen to want to do at the moment is something you can do on transit good for you - but for many they are doing that as a second best because they can't do whatever it is they want to do.

Time matters in the above. If your trip is 15-20 minutes time to unwind seems to be universal and so almost nobody really has anything they want to do. If you trip if an hour that is cutting into other things in life. (Note that I didn't mention how you take the trip in this part, people who drive fast the same time concerns for longer trips)

I ride the train kind of recreationally. Not just to ride it but to go into town, have a coffee and check the scene, then go back, so basically recreational.

I think a lot of the non rush hour usage is like that.

The train itself is pleasant off peak - table, wifi, I drink coffee and websurf. It's a bit squished in during rush hour though.

Having spent lots of time in LA traffic, I'd be surprised if an hour on a train didn't get you significantly farther than 35 minutes in traffic.

Used to take an hour to drive 11 miles down 101 to downtown vs 25 minute on the B line.

Hello, fellow LA traffic sufferer! I used to do the 210 to the 2 to surface streets to Century City, and the 210 to the 118 to the 405 to Santa Monica. There was no transit that was going to tame those beasts :-) but a commuter motorcycle in Los Angeles is a wonderful thing.

I'm not sure. I want to see public transport in a city done with rollercoasters. The amount using it for fun would go up dramatically. It would change overnight from just another utterly boring city not worth visiting into a tourist hot spot. Similarly, people who need to be places will make it work.

Life is about the journey. All those roads and other boring means of transportation are just places no one wants to be.

A roller coaster would be fun. I've always kind of wanted a city to city flight that you could just jump out of with a parachute and land at your destination without the airport faff.

On the more realistic end of things, ebikes are fun.

>e-biking over a bridge, preferably at night — has developed its own ardent following. Liberated for the most part of any physical exertion, e-bikers can instead focus on the texture of the road vibrating up their arms, the wind streaking across their cheeks, the speed heightening their consciousness. “You do it in the evening, with the sunset — hell yeah,” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/nyregion/eric-adams-nyc-s...

Fun is good and all, if you enjoy it I won't argue. I enjoy a sunset myself from time to time. However most people are not enjoying in the moment. They want transportation only for the purposes of getting someplace so they can get something else done (or enjoy something else). Fun is good, but not everything is fun. I need to get home from work so I can get supper done in time for the evening activities (by coincidence I've been asked to make my homemade pretzels tonight - that takes 2 hours so I need to get home as soon as work is done)

I've had countless conversations with a friend of mine who thought not all things are supposed to be fun. Earning a living for example needs to involve a certain amount of suffering. If it lacks that quality he wouldn't be happy to be home and being home should be more appealing than working.

I ask him things like, what about working from home? That would be terrible! He replied with a sour face.

But the knife cuts both ways. If you hate the rollercoasters you will be so happy when it is finally over. The pretzels will taste even better.

Some will feel your suffering when they see it, some will enjoy seeing it.

Most people would have every other city in the world where they can be practical, sober or boring, depending on who you ask.

Most people can't always have what they want and they shouldn't. It wouldn't be good for them :-)

Lawsuit city.

For many disabled people driving isn’t really possible. Now they have to hop on a rollercoaster ?

High speed rail would be more than enough for me. DC to NYC in 1 hour flat. Philly to NYC in 30 min.

Sacramento to SF in 1 hour, which would allow for normal people to buy homes and commute into town.

I love this. As another poster brought up, plenty of people buy enjoyable cars and motorcycles for the pleasure of driving. Why not add a little spice to life?

Spice is fine - but you still need to get places and that is the primary goal of most cars. People who have the car/motorcycle for fun only nearly all have some other vehicle they use as the "daily driver" to get places. I might take a train on a sunday drive myself once in a while.

The majority of uses should be for people trying to get someplace. If the trip is also fun that is a bonus, but if it is only fun but otherwise worthless (that is something else is enough better) your system won't get many riders.

I'm not sure, the thing is, a vehicle is also a place. I had a great time working for a company using camper vans. You get almost everything a brick house offers.

A lot of people have recreational boats. They go places but the destination isn't half the fun. With cruse ships the destination is perhaps 5-10%?

Maybe we got it all wrong. Perhaps trains should have lan gaming. Have some exclusieve game that one can only play in the train with some exclusive content for the specific trip.

One could also do exclusive interactive educational material. There is a lot to learn before you become a train driver, train manager, mechanic, engineer, cleaner, etc etc

That is great for the first week or two, and then it is common place and you just want to be there. It will be old faster if you happen to ride at the same time as someone who gets motion sickness. (or worse if you are the person with motion sickness)

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