Why China Is so Good at Bullet Trains?

[Hamartia Antidote]

Most Americans want to live in private homes in the suburbs and not in a sense city. It’s a cultural thing. It’s a trade off. Larger homes but longer commutes. Also most American people don’t work in city cores; midtowns, anymore.

It's the very very strong independent "castle" mentality. This is why we don't like to live in multi-unit buildings with control handled by someone else.

man's home is his castle

Definition of man's home is his castle in the Idioms Dictionary by The Free Dictionary

idioms.thefreedictionary.com

"One should be the sole person in control of one's home and the happenings there."

For instance the appeal of solar panels/powerwall is to not have to rely on the electric company...not necessarily the cost.

You could even claim it is the root of the Industrial Revolution.

18th century Farmer: Hmm I need 20 men to maintain my fields..ugh there must be a way I can do this all myself...hmm...if I could somehow create a mechanical device to help me do this...hmmm.

 

[8888888888888]

The USA airlines killed off the passenger rail service in USA, as a result the service is crap when they can thrown you out the plane when you purchase the ticket as well as getting stuck on the runway for hours because they know there is no competition.

So a $84 train ride is far better quality than a plane.

 

[Kai Liu]

It's simply too much of a cost to reclaim developed US land vs undeveloped Chinese land. Plus $84 is not a huge savings over say $99 airfare to justify the enormous purchase/build/maintenance cost of all that track.

If we had HSR from San Francisco to Seattle for $84 it would probably fail to attract riders due to the extra 2 hours. I think Americans are less patient than Chinese when it comes to time vs money. We can't even deal with low hp cars.

Stop your fooling...
Your $99 price is just some eye-catching discount prices only very few people can get, on average it costs more than $200...
And red-eye flights? If you don't want to spend your entire night at the airport, you have to spend another $100 for a taxi to your hotel...

 

[Oldman1]

Most Americans want to live in private homes in the suburbs and not in a central city. It’s a cultural thing. It’s a trade off. Larger homes but longer commutes. Also most American people don’t work in city cores; midtowns, anymore. The commute from work to home dictates a lot of infrastructure spending in the US, although I agree American infrastructure (such as nationwide real high speed internet) needs a serious investment of public funds, or else we will not be as competitive as other countries like South Korea or China.

Most Americans have multiple cars in the driveway and prefer to drive directly to their destination. Trains cannot do that. And you have to do rideshare or Uber or take the bus afterwards. Trains have their pros and cons. I would use the train to avoid the highway traffic, but when I'm in the city I usually walk. But for long distance and where trains cannot go, I just take my car.

 

[Kai Liu]

So mainly Germany and Japan, as expected!!

For the early generation of trains, yes, we have assimilated some tech from those countries, but for the newer generation of trains, e.g. the Fuxing series trains, they are developed by CRRC, the world's no.1 rolling stock company. No train in the world can achieve the speed and comfort of Fuxing train on a commercially operational route.

 

[FuturePAF]

Most Americans have multiple cars in the driveway and prefer to drive directly to their destination. Trains cannot do that. And you have to do rideshare or Uber or take the bus afterwards. Trains have their pros and cons. I would use the train to avoid the highway traffic, but when I'm in the city I usually walk. But for long distance and where trains cannot go, I just take my car.

Exactly, unless you live in the city with an extensive subway system, you need a car. Even if you live more than walking distance from a commuter train line you will need a car. America picked what infrastructure wanted 60 years ago, it would take a lot of investment in public transportation to change that.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Stop your fooling...
Your $99 price is just some eye-catching discount prices only very few people can get,

Wow I guess I was wrong about flight prices in China being lower than the US. I guess in China they are more expensive since you are so shocked at the price.

Can you click on this Expedia link (the #1 travel site in the US...not some obscure place) to see the price page I grabbed it from.

https://www.expedia.com/Flights-Search?flight-type=on&mode=search&trip=oneway&leg1=from%3ASeattle%2C+WA+%28SEA-Seattle+-+Tacoma+Intl.%29%2Cto%3ASan+Francisco%2Cdeparture%3A12%2F7%2F2020TANYT&options=cabinclass%3Aeconomy&passengers=children%3A0%2Cadults%3A2%2Cseniors%3A0%2Cinfantinlap%3AY&fromDate=12%2F7%2F2020&d1=2020-12-07

 

[Microsoft]

Wow I guess I was wrong about flight prices in China being lower than the US. I guess in China they are more expensive since you are so shocked at the price.

Can you click on this Expedia link (the #1 travel site in the US...not some obscure place) to see the price page I grabbed it from.

https://www.expedia.com/Flights-Search?flight-type=on&mode=search&trip=oneway&leg1=from%3ASeattle%2C+WA+%28SEA-Seattle+-+Tacoma+Intl.%29%2Cto%3ASan+Francisco%2Cdeparture%3A12%2F7%2F2020TANYT&options=cabinclass%3Aeconomy&passengers=children%3A0%2Cadults%3A2%2Cseniors%3A0%2Cinfantinlap%3AY&fromDate=12%2F7%2F2020&d1=2020-12-07

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Wlow I actually didn't expect this to be the case...Here's some even more conclusive evidence:

If you plan about a week in advance it's actually a good chance you can go at around $100 one way. If you're lucky even $40.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Wlow I actually didn't expect this to be the case...Here's some even more conclusive evidence:
View attachment 690281

If you plan about a week in advance it's actually a good chance you can go at around $100 one way. If you're lucky even $40.

I think the flight prices in China must be very expensive compared to the US so this is why trains are so appealing. Of course some peak weekend time or a Holiday could have a higher price just like your chart shows

 

[Kai Liu]

Wow I guess I was wrong about flight prices in China being lower than the US. I guess in China they are more expensive since you are so shocked at the price.

Can you click on this Expedia link (the #1 travel site in the US...not some obscure place) to see the price page I grabbed it from.

https://www.expedia.com/Flights-Search?flight-type=on&mode=search&trip=oneway&leg1=from%3ASeattle%2C+WA+%28SEA-Seattle+-+Tacoma+Intl.%29%2Cto%3ASan+Francisco%2Cdeparture%3A12%2F7%2F2020TANYT&options=cabinclass%3Aeconomy&passengers=children%3A0%2Cadults%3A2%2Cseniors%3A0%2Cinfantinlap%3AY&fromDate=12%2F7%2F2020&d1=2020-12-07

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Stop fooling here again...
I have travelled extensively in the States by flights and don't need you to tell me where to buy an airline ticket...LMAO...

Still twice the price of HSR on average. Even though the flight ticket price is one of the lowest at this period...

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Stop fooling here again...
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Still twice the price HSR. Even though the flight ticket is one of the lowest at this period...

You are picking one of the biggest holiday travel times of the year ( the day before Thanksgiving) when prices are high. Just look at the barchart posted above by @Microsoft and shutup.

The Worst Days Of The Year To Fly - Explore

Even if you consider yourself an especially savvy traveler, some of the woes of air travel are simply unavoidable. You can always ease some of the stress...

www.theactivetimes.com

The Worst Days of the Year to Fly

 

[52051]

Well, to be fair, the reason why Chinese prefer train to travel with has something to do with the flight control regulation of China.

The flight is under heavily regulation and flight schedule are frequently modified by not just civil but also military agency, so the delays are quite frequent, especially in summer or in regions of great national security importance.

Such thing cancel the main advantage of flight over high-speed train in China, and besides, there are still quite many people believe trains are safer than airplane.

 

[Kai Liu]

Stop being a complete A-Hole. You are picking one of the biggest holiday travel times of the year (Thankgiving). Just look at the chart posted by @Microsoft and shutup.

Why so angry, azzhole?
And so what? HSR ticket price stays the same all year round no matter whatever festival, and no matter short or very long distances on a per KM basis,while your air ticket price is still on average twice that of HSR...As airfare today is at its historical low due to covid.

In addition, your airport usually are in the middle of nowhere, and you have to spend at least another 100 bucks for additional travel costs either by renting a car, riding a taxi, or driving by yourself and paying the parking fee, etc...lol...

 

[shi12jun]

Basically, small and medium-sized cities with a population of 500,000 in China are connected by high-speed rail. Many small counties with a population of more than 100,000 have also been connected to high-speed rail.