Train vs. car and air travel, a comparison

[Slick Vik]

A frequent response to the dysfunctions of American air travel is technological: namely, self-driving cars (also see this article). In a self-driving car, you can relax, even sleep, while being driven safely to your destination at 60 mph. We once had such a system. It’s called a train network.

Compared to air or car travel, a decent train network is cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and quicker. As an example, I’ll compare two door-to-door, city-center-to-city-center journeys.

The first is by plane, from Boston to New York City:

 

Time   0:40 Get to Logan airport (airports are typically far from the city center) 1:00 Participate in security theater, etc. 1:10 Sit in loud sardine can 0:30 Get luggage 1:00 Get from Newark airport to destination in New York City —- ———– 4:20 TOTAL

The journey is 215 miles, for an overall speed of about 50 mph. The current cheapest advance-purchase, nonrefundable round trip costs $150; that’s 35 cents per passenger-mile. For comparison, car travel is about 50 cents per passenger mile (the IRS-set reimbursement rate).

The comparison journey is by train from Paris to Lyon (I need a decent train network for comparison purposes). I made this journey when our family lived for a summer in Lyon, and I learned French by street-fighting methods. The ticket told you where to stand on the platform. Two minutes before scheduled departure, the train arrived. You stepped into the train car, found your reserved seat, and, almost before you had stowed your luggage, the train departed.

 

Time   0:20 Get to station in downtown Paris 0:05 Arrive early to validate ticket 2:00 Sit on comfortable train with leg room, or stand up without hitting head 0:25 Get to destination within Lyon —- ——– 2:50 TOTAL

The journey is 289 miles, for an overall speed of about 100 mph. A current advance-purchase, non-refundable round trip costs 70 euros or $100; that’s 17 cents per passenger mile, or one-half of the plane’s cost. The train journey is not only cheaper and quicker, but you get more time to think and read: 2:00 on the train versus 1:10 on the plane.

Forget self-driving cars! If we can print trillions of dollars to create moral hazard by bailing out the gamblers who nose-dived the world economy, why not print money to extend and upgrade the rail network? The U.S. and U.K. rail networks were once twice as extensive as they are today.

 

http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/01/22/we-once-had-self-driving-cars-2/

Edited February 5, 2013 by Slick Vik

[editor]

Not every mode of travel is going to be right for every person.  I used to break it down into a numbers game, but in reality it's far more complex than that. A lot of it has to do with lifestyle, occupation, and your background.

 

FWIW, I am coming up on my 10th anniversary of being car-free.  When I want to get around:

- Within 1 mile: walk.

- 2-10 miles: subway or bus

- 10-50 miles: regional rail or Amtrak service

- 50+ miles: Amtrak or airplane

 

- Something heavy or awkward? I have yet to find a place that doesn't deliver, and almost always for free, and if I want it right now, I grab a ZipCar (which also has trucks and vans available).  

- Someplace not accessible by train or bus?  ZipCar if it's just for today, or rental car for longer periods.

At the time I dumped the cars, I was saving $700/month. With the price of gas a decade later, I'm probably saving $900/month.  

This plan works equally well in Chicago as it does is Seattle.  I almost tried it in Houston, but chickened out.  

Again, this works for me.  It may work for you.  It won't work for everybody.  As someone originally from a large city on the East Coast, I've had plenty of family members who never even got a drivers license, and they did just fine.  So not having a car was not that strange to me.

That said, I would totally dig self-driving cars.  I annoy people a lot because I snore on trains and planes.  

[Slick Vik]

From freakonomics

Don’t get me wrong, auto travel has tremendous individual benefits, but as I’ve written in the past, collectively we overindulge in it because drivers create all sorts of costs that are borne by society and for which they don’t directly pay (e.g. pollution, congestion, much of the cost of accidents, and road damage). Slap a few curves on a graph, and it’s easy to see that society would be better off if we factored these into the price of driving.

[editor]

From freakonomics

Don’t get me wrong, auto travel has tremendous individual benefits, but as I’ve written in the past, collectively we overindulge in it because drivers create all sorts of costs that are borne by society and for which they don’t directly pay (e.g. pollution, congestion, much of the cost of accidents, and road damage). Slap a few curves on a graph, and it’s easy to see that society would be better off if we factored these into the price of driving.

 

This is true.  But one cannot live life by numbers.  There is a certain joy to driving, though if you commute through traffic every day it may have worn off.

 

When I lived in Houston I used to love driving around Beltway 8 at 2am.  Great way to blow off steam after work.  Of course, back then gas was under a dollar a gallon.

 

Today, since I only drive once a year or so, driving is a special event for me and I make the most of it.  Driving so seldom has also made me a terrible driver.  If I go over 40MPH, I'm all "Wooooooo!  Look how fast I'm going!  Woooooooo!"

 

Next month I'll be in the desert for a while, so I've rented a convertible and I'm going to drive aimlessly into the distance all Route 66 style just because I can. And with the way the world is going, the next time I get a chance to, it will probably be illegal, prohibitively expensive, or both.

[samagon]

I was going to say a similar thing. Driving does offer a certain joy. For me, it's clipping the apex on a road course, waiting as late as I dare to hit the brakes, and even trailing into the turn with a dab of brakes to help me rotate the car, and certainly the biggest challenge of linking corners together.

 

I gain minimal pleasure through the day to day drive to and from work. Well, except for the rush of acceleration when getting on the freeway, or ignoring the yellow signs that tell me how fast I should go on a corner when I have a clear view of the whole corner to know it's safe and clear. 

 

I don't begrudge the person who thinks they need a lumbering SUV, or truck (even though it's funny to watch them try to fit in some parking places, or navigate some of the streets), cause their excuses are just as legitimate as mine are for not just owning an appliance.