Faremax: Travel Forums

I am from the UK, and I have to tell you that coming to live in the USA, I am stunned at how limited train travel is. Between buses and trains you can go almost anywhere in the UK; I never even learned to drive. And now I find myself in a place where trains run only in cities and you can't get from one city to another.

So can anyone tell me why train routes never developed any more than they did?

That's  a good question and I am not sure of the answer.  Of course, many years ago there was a lot of travel by train.  It seemed to slowly start to dwindle down after cars and then even more so with other methods of travel.  Why it didn't stick here but did in other countries, I am not so sure. 

I guess it's the whole "American dream" thing, with the big cars, and everybody have to have more, more, more. Couldn't have people sharing transport, that wouldn't be American. Heh, I'm a cynic!

Yeah it is a bit limited but I mean when it comes to America, we drive here. American's like the independence of being able to drive and go whenever I please. But heck right now the gas is too dang high right now.

I agree the Metro service in LA isn't as good as the services in London. I don't have much experience of interstate travel though. The thing is between greyhounds and interstate flights, isn't the transport service in the USA still fairly good?

Nope, it's terrible. I live in a small town and cannot leave this town. There are no buses or trains that run through here, and no buses that runs from the residential to the business areas.

Randle, you want to call that independance? What of those people who CANNOT drive, not through inability but through disability, ill health and so on. Those people are restricted to walking distance because this country is too greedy to share.

I'm not calling it nothing, Thats what Americans call it. Driving has taken over the metro system. And even still regardless to the situation if you are disabled then guess what, you aren't going to be catching a bus anyway, so any way it goes, you are stuck. You may not have any other choice but to get a driver's license, if you don't have one.

Sorry but not all disabilities affect your mobility, and not all forms of public transport are not wheelchair accessible. I cannot drive because of seizures when I was younger. I am clear now, but it stopped me driving at the time that most learn.

And in other countries, such as the UK, buses and trains are wheelchair and stroller accessible. The bus has a system that lowers it to the edge of the curb, so that a wheelchair user can just roll on. Other countries do this, but here the attitude is "I am ok, so stuff you". I am seeing this more and more, and this is just another example.

My grandmother was handicap and it didn't stop here from getting where she wanted to go. The in the US is wheelchair accessible. I guess since thats where I'm located I have no worries. And not only that we also have services that drive handicap people where they need to go.

Yes, that's ok if you live in a city with a good bus service. Here, there is nothing, just like most small towns. And there is nothing that goes from one town to another, or many cities to other cities. The rail network never connected, or if it did it was then discontinued again.

And that's what I would love to know-why in a country that makes such a big deal of it's rail workers, is there such a crappy, broken up, bitty service?

Maybe you should go to the city counsel and ask them about getting a bus system going there in that little town. I wonder why it's so limited thats kind of silly. I think when it comes to having a handful of people anywhere, there should be at a few services.

There apparently was a bus service at one time, but it was mainly used by OAPs who got a discounted rate. So they stopped the service.

However we now have a Walmart in the town, so I think if they were to restart the service, it would be more used.

I am in the same boat as you are.  I rely on buses with in and outside of the city and have taken the train upon occassion.  I think there is a lack of train routes being developed is because of  ability of air flights and also it seems that more and more people are owning and driving cars.  It is not like say fifty years ago when not that many people had cars or there was only one car per family, these days, just about everyone has a car and drives to his or her destination.

Americans are obsessed with their cars.  I lived in the city for a long time, and was lucky that they had public trans, because not every big city in the USA has it or has a good system. When I want to leave the city though, you definitely need a car.  The trains will take you out into the suburbs, but once they drop you off at a station in the middle of nowhere you are on your own.