![[meme] Trains -- not driverless cars -- are the future of transportation](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f6468af5-8151-4b4c-b339-2fa0b0373c3a.webp){kind=link}
Image transcript:
Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) sitting at a lemonade stand, smiling, with a sign that reads, “Trains and micromobility are inevitably the future of urban transportation, whether society wants it or not. CHANGE MY MIND.”
Image transcript:
Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) sitting at a lemonade stand, smiling, with a sign that reads, “Trains and micromobility are inevitably the future of urban transportation, whether society wants it or not. CHANGE MY MIND.”
But that’s an issue with capitalism, not the technology itself. Roads and high(motor)ways are very heavily subsidized and tax funded, while rail in the UK is largely privatized. It’s just a sign of what is being prioritized by government and/or society, which is cars in this case. There are plenty of places where public transit is free or at least the definitive cheapest way to travel, also due to government funding.
Trains are directly linked to capitalism, not sure what you are getting at here. They require incredible amounts of capital to build, and incredible amounts of money to operate. They enabled the industrialization.
Communist countries also, in fact, received their trains from capitalist countries. Russia had hardly any before the US started supplying them during the industrialization process by Albert Kahn and associates.
The most train centric countries in the world are also the most capitalist. Whether that’s state run capitalism or private, state run generally provides more passenger rail service. However, Japan is an exception there with its JR Rail.
“The most train centric countries in the world are also the most capitalist.”
That’s because most countries in the world are capitalist mate.
Also, if you acknowledge that JR Rail is not capitalist, even if China is defined as a state capitalist country you still have to acknowledge that the rail system itself is not capitalist (it is also state owned like JR rail).
The fact is once profit is prioritised in something like mass public transportation, it starts to go to shit. That’s why American rail is so shit, that’s why every place in the UK has shit public transportation after privitisation bar a few cities like Nottingham, London and Manchester, and why it’s so expensive to get from city to city. Countries with largely state owned public transport tend to do better with their public transport.
No, I was actually pointing out that JR rail is not a state run passenger rail corporation, unlike Amtrak in the United States, DB in Germany and SNCF in France. It’s fully private and is only profitable due to Japan’s extreme population density and narrow shinkansen corridor between Tokyo and Osaka.
It is in fact fully privatized, or “capitalist.”