• keepcarrot [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    It's kind of a shame that a cross-country train is way more expensive than a plane here, by about an order of magnitude. I assume it's because of the labour cost of 6 hours vs 30? or that it's catered to a few luxury passengers rather than packing passengers in like sardines? Probably, something like that

    • cawsby [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Tracks and bridges are not cheap to maintain.

      • keepcarrot [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I imagine that comes into the emissions cost per mile or something (likewise, runways, plane maintenance etc etc)

        • cawsby [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          The coming age of electric air travel is going to be noisy but cleaner.

          I have mixed feelings about the constant sound of drones in my life.

          • keepcarrot [she/her]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I'd hope that commercial (or public) air travel won't be done by drone helicopters and not be used for commuting. But the lathe of heaven turns

            • cawsby [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Electric passenger plane travel is coming , but not by quad copters. It is still as loud or louder than jet engines. Cargo by drone planes is going to be constant though. The sky will always be full of moving lights except in some dark sky preserves. I might retire near one just to stay sane.

    • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      A bit of both. We can have really good passenger rail, but it is labor intensive over long distances.

      • keepcarrot [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I live within the free public transport zone of my city, so I'm aware of short distance travel rail. If I want to visit family on the other side of the country, the cost calculations change (for now).