When I wanted to take my dad to Chicago for his birthday, we ruled out flying because of the cost and risk of weather disruption and driving because of the distance and annoyance of having the car once in Chicago. Instead, we embarked on an elaborate trip by bus, carpool, and train. Why? Because Amt...
In a new video on Urbanists.Video, the Heartland Urbanist explores the unique challenges train travellers face when trying to travel interstate using Amtrak.
"I wanted to take my dad to Chicago for his birthday, we ruled out flying because of the cost and risk of weather disruption and driving because of the distance and annoyance of having the car once in Chicago. Instead, we embarked on an elaborate trip by bus, carpool, and train. Why? Because Amtrak service in the Midwest is severely lacking, especially in Ohio."
The trip included such delights as being dropped off by a bus in a Dayton suburb without footpaths, and being up at 6am to catch one of the two Amtrak services from Toledo to Chicago.
This clip is hosted by the new Fediverse-connected urban planning video streaming site Urbanists.video @video
@No_One@ajsadauskas@lemmy.ml@heartlandurbanist@video You can't even call Amtrak a third-world railway system, because there are quite literally a number of developing countries that have better trains than Amtrak.
It's a system the Bulgarians would be ashamed of.
And Australia is not much better. Especially V/Line in Victoria.
@ajsadauskas@ajsadauskas@lemmy.ml@heartlandurbanist@video yeah its a joke. The only connection heading east out of Detroit is a thruway bus to Toledo that leaves at 10pm and schedules a 3 hour wait (assuming the lakeshore is on time...which, is basically a coin toss) for the lakeshore at 3am. This, from a metro area of millions, heading to anywhere in new england/north-east. It's wild.
Re: Ohio, 3-Cs is basically number one on amtrak Joe's list so stayed tuned! Maybe in 2040...
"Although she was going home by bus, she had come by Amtrak. The train ride had taken 26 hours. Akron and Buffalo are only a few hours apart. If you drive or take the bus. Even less if you fly. But there are no direct trains between the two cities. Felicia had to first go to New York City, lay over for three hours, and then switch to the Chicago-bound train that passes through Buffalo."
She'd just wanted a train ride.
This is from a story I once wrote based on a bus encounter.