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Question: How many of you would do your Christmas shopping using trolley/commuter rail systems? Kind of a hassle to carry extra baggage on such systems, isn't it? Auto - 1 Train - 0 Or you are in transit between home and work when you get a call on your cell from your elderly mother, who needs some maintenance ASAP for her AC. If you're driving your own vehicle, you simply take the next exit and head to the rescue. If you're stuck on the trolley, well, you're stuck.... Auto - 2 Train - 0 Or you're a soccer mom, taking one kid to practice, one to dance recital, and one to the doctor for a checkup........Need I say more? Auto - 3 Train - 0 Or you are in transit when you spot an armoire at a yard sale that you know your wife will just love. Again, if you're in your SUV, you stop and pick it up. If you're on commuter rail.......... Auto - 4 Train - 0 Okay, you all get the picture. There is an inherent flaw in mass transit systems for urban transportation, and that is the inability to make spontaneous and practical travel decisions on the fly. And that is part of the reason the US has such a higher standard of living than Europe, freedom to change course in midstream (and to do so multiple times) is part and parcel of our higher standard of living. So, if I may, I will choose to split the question into two parts: Could N American society have successfully evolved into heavy use of intercity passenger rail? Yes, with the qualifications of (1) increased average speeds that exceed nominal highway speeds, and (2) adaptation to and development of an autotrain business at the advent of the personal automobile, rather than the exclusive attitude that actually prevailed and which marganilized rail's usefulness to society. Could N American society have successfully evolved into heavy use of mass transit systems? No, no matter how it evolved, because mass transit is incompatible to individualistic freedoms which we so cherish. Just my two cents.
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