>>1959849>the US has a very large, very valuable ROAD NETWORK and highest car ownership rates in the worldWe have the highest car ownership rates because car ownership is a de facto requirement to participate in society. That's not a good thing. We have a far higher rate of deaths and hospitalizations due to car wrecks per capita than any other developed country, and that metric is getting worse, not better.
>People in the US like their car-centric lifestyleThere's barely 100k living Americans currently who would have experienced anything else. For everyone not currently in a retirement home, the car-centric lifestyle was not a choice, it was government policy forced on them.
>Many people in other countries want to come here to enjoy that lifestyle.Strange, statistics say they are all central/south Americans, Indians, and Chinese fleeing from cartel violence, crippling poverty, and authoritarian governments.
>>1959858>neglects to account for network effectsI accounted for the network effects, and provided one of many examples. People could have connected through a number of other out of the way cities (Charlotte, NYC, Houston, Dallas) simply because those are hubs and people flying today from smaller towns within reach of the prospective HSR lines will have to connect through one of them. It also doesn't include mode shift from driving. Let's face it, who wants to drive 8+ hours best case to go to Disney, where you won't use your car at all, as opposed to taking a 3-4 hour train from Atlanta?
>Cars are powerfulI'm sorry you're so insecure that you need a 2 ton metal box for emotional support.
>You don't have to spend $20k if you buy usedMedian USED car price this year is about $26k. Most people don't have the luxury of time to find a cheap $10k unicorn car, and even that's 5x the cost of a brand new cargo e-bike, without including the insurance and maintenance you'd have to pay to keep the car going.
