this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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Does train come pick me up and drop me off again ?
Gotta love dem rural trains.
They could if people funded them well enough to do so.
Yes. There even used to be a robust public transportation infrastructure here where I live in South Dakota, long ago before everything became so car-centric. Buses and trains. I used to ride the bus to Minnesota to work in the fields. Get off my lawn!
Don't believe the people who say we can't sustain it. That's their carbrain talking. It's been done before. We just need to prioritize it.
Well no. I live rural. So rural we don't have pedestrian walkways or anything.
I'm not anti public transportation. I'm pro pro pro. However trains don't help rural. Rural get shafted on most things. No broadband no sewage no bin pick up. You have to drive.
I fucking hate driving. I would happily sit on any number of vehicles. It's just not feasible unfortunately.
The country I currently reside in has no trains. Relies on planes which is beyond infuriating
I have family who live in rural Norway, and yeah -- they drive to the train station. Still a big improvement over having to drive all the way to work or the store.
And yeah-- I'm talking about small tiny towns having buses and trains. Look at a map of South Dakota. That's the state where I live, and we had them.
Only works if the costs is less. No point driving to station to pay triple what driving would get you and take longer
The costs of driving aren't directly on the driver, but are the sprawl, environmental problems, expensive infrastructure, and deaths caused by car use.
Direct per-trip costs can be fixed with government subsidies (which have been heavily given to cars in the past) and travel times can be fixed with higher quality infrastructure and transit-oriented development.
The point is that you are part of a larger community, and it's appropriate to behave as such. People ride public transport every day, and you can too. You're not better than anyone else, and if you have rural acreage, you can certainly afford the time and money to support the type of infrastructure that benefits the majority as well as our planet.
Fuck are you on about?
There's no public transportation here. I'd need to drive an hour to the nearest city. In which case I no longer require the public transportation.
Why would I be better than anyone? I'm worse off not better.
I have more money and time because I live rural.
What are you even trying to say ?
Congratulations, you've identified the problem! Therefore, we need infrastructure, which is what I've been saying all along!
You would literally be on the same transportation as everyone else. Poor you.
Unless you are a farmer or similar, it is far more sustainable to live in a town. Living in an expansive rural acreage or in a suburb is a luxury that we shouldn't cater to.
I'm saying public transportation in rural areas is feasible, and something that is sustained in many parts of the world. There's nothing about your situation that makes it so it wouldn't work for you. You've just been heavily propagandized by capitalists who profit from our current broken system.
Yes. We do need infrastructure. Not what your comment said though. Unfortunately there no infrastructure to the nearest village so no chance it's coming even further out.
What does being on the same transport change ? What are you getting at ? What's the point in this ?
You don't think "we" should allow people to love rural?
Who is this "we" why are you deciding for the masses where they should live?
Only farmers are allowed to love rural. Are you perchance a child or something.
I've not and I think it is you who is "slightly" out of touch with reality. Maybe check in on that one aye.
More public transportation would benefit all.
Of you actually built proper transportation with hubs that link into more transportation then we could spread out a live more rural.
Show me a map from any year that serviced rural south Dakota, picking up rural passengers at their property lines
Lol what? Unless you are disabled, you don't need someone to pick you up at your property line. That's carbrain entitlement. Walk to the train station/bus depot, cycle, or drive a modest car that short distance (the latter being exactly what some of my family do, who live in a more developed nation).
I do agree we also need to expand infrastructure to accommodate disabled people, though. That's a separate issue.
The point is, we can have a train and bus system here. It's been done in the past. Personally, I'd welcome it. Owning a car is such a pointless and unsustainable money sink.
Mojojo's comment
Mojojo has a chronic case of carbrain. They're part of the problem.
Don't be Mojojo.
Edit: Mojojo's comment doesn't even address any of what I said to you. Yo, what???
"Does train come pick me up and drop me off again ?
Gotta love dem rural trains. "
Most routes do not run just 1 way.
If it’s nationalized, yes.
rural trains are amazing, on the branch line near me there are stations in the middle of nowhere with like maybe 50 people tops within bike distance of the station, it's absolutely idyllic.
imagine living like that and being able to just step into a moving building that takes you to a big city full of amenities, it's so good.
Yep, when people start talking about how rural trains make no sense or are impossible, I immediately think of where my relatives live in Norway. It's so nice, and I'm jealous.
They're great, I've lived in Europe. But they just don't exist yet most places.
We've actually regressed in my little US state (South Dakota). My grandma used to talk about taking the train to some little towns. We also used to have more buses and taxis when I was a kid. My parents used to put us on a bus in the summer so we could work in the fields (which I know doesn't sound like stellar parenting, and I'm not recommending it, but it really was a different time).
it's not "yet", it's "anymore".
most of the west used to have rural trains basically everywhere, even northern sweden was full of lines. Then around the 60's we all got rid of them.
The dream
We must stop all progress until we can come up with a solution that includes less than 20% of the population.
My problem with most transportation policy is that it usually involves tax penalties. A lot of people can't afford to move to the city. Making cars more expensive as an incentive just creates human suffering in rural areas.
Sweden has hourly trains that go through 1-2k population mountain villages that connect to all the major cities.
100% possible if the political will is there.
And when it isn't ?
Get it there.
The urban trains are at best the "least bad" option. Even in NYC, which has a very extensive system of mass transit, taking mass transit is slow. For example, if I wanted to visit my friends in Brooklyn right now, mass transit would take an hour and 20 minutes (including about 20 minutes of walking, which isn't fun in bad weather). Driving would be twice as fast even when normal traffic is accounted for. Plus it would be door-to-door and much more comfortable.
I actually have a car but parking it near where I live would cost me $450 a month, so currently I'm leaving it with those friends in Brooklyn (for a fun 2-hour 40-minute round trip to pick it up and then drop it off again whenever I want to drive anywhere). I want a self-driving car because it could stay parked somewhere cheap, come to me, and then go back and park itself when I was done using it.
(I could take a taxi but that would be $65 right now, which is significantly more than 40 minutes of my time costs. I wonder how much of that price is simply taxes... NYC is deliberately making it harder to get around without using mass transit. Can you tell that I don't like living here?)