Who knows https://www.mta.maryland.gov/advisories/alcohol-consumption-onboard-marc-trainsIsn't drinking on the train (besides a designated restaurant part) illegal? I know it is illegal in my corner of Europe
Here it's legal unless there's some temporary ban because football hooligans or some shit. Otherwise it's pretty normal and accepted to have a beer or two on the train as long as you behave yourself.Isn't drinking on the train (besides a designated restaurant part) illegal? I know it is illegal in my corner of Europe
Even at their peak trains were everywhere and bedroom communities started in the 1880s from places like NYC because people did not want to live in major cities, especially in the summer. (There used to be huge yellow fever outbreaks in places like Philadelphia, NYC, and Baltimore too, which caused them to be empty in the summers.)
That's from their companies refusal to adapt which is what ended up killing them, since in countries where they did successfully adapt in the East trains are fast and affordable enough to seriously disrupt even airline routes.
Only because they get massive subsidies (Europe), made their competition illegal (France), and/or have no competition (China).
I'm not talking about Europe when I bring up "The East", European trains objectively suck (see how Eurostar and ICE are literally 3x as expensive as flying to the point they're trying to harm air travel industry as a way to cope). My discussion is exclusively on Japan and China (aka places I actually can talk from experience).
Guangzhou Baiyun actually usurped Atlanta's spot as the world's busiest airport for a year not that long ago and there's the fact that a good number of people in PRD don't mind crossing the border to catch a flight in HK/Macao. Saying the PRC doesn't invest in their airports is quite contradictory when you literally posted a photo of them doubling the size of Guangzhou with a new construction project, and the fact that Shenzhen Baoan even exists as a viable option now. Last mile travel in the PRD anyway is fast enough when I was there in 2019 I didn't mind the long distance since the ride from GZ airport was only like 30 minutes, completely reasonable for how far it was.
Japanese rail companies are real estate companies that happen to run trains between their malls and get subsidies for unprofitable routes outside of major cities.
Guangzhou Baiyan had 63 million passengers in 2023. Hartsfield-Jackson had 108 million.
And I think that as a business model is entirely valid, applying the model of having a desirable attraction at every destination helps increase land utilization in what would otherwise be plain travelling infrastructure, something that doesn't translate to nearly as much financial success as supplementing it with amenities. Supplementing rural areas is also entirely valid, we subsidize unprofitable rural people ensuring that they have access to the same quality of electricity and health as profitable suburban and urban ones, so I think it's entirely fine for that to extend to other facets of infrastructure if one wants to be called a first-world economy.
First world economies fly while second and third world economies stay on the ground.
If only I could take a plane to my job or university, then we will reach true agartha.
A plane requires too much infrastructure for a routine travel, try riding a helicopter, or if you're fancy, one of those drone cabs.
Oh yeah companies in China like Ehang are actually certified now to use their drone fleets for revenue service in the PRD and hefei, don't know of any American equivalents so far other than a few heliport to airport commercial OPS like that one in NYC.
There are plenty of American eVTOL companies, and their designs are much better than the Chinese ones, as they're VTOL planes rather than giant consumer drones:
Aviation fuel has always been expensive, it's why alternative powertrains are even being explored in the first place, not due to climate change slacktivism. The 216S does have an actual type certificate, which is often the hardest step for any new aerial platform while a lot of these still are in prototype phases.
Avgas is so unbelievable expensive these days that there are dozens of electric and hybrid electric turbofans/props in development by several big name and serious firms.
Avgas is expensive due to low demand because airliners don’t use it and because the FAA has done everything in their power to destroy general aviation.
