More X Train hype

The whole on-again-off-again bullet train hype ignores one simple reality: A bullet train may save time over a car driving an equivalent distance, but every time that train stops on the way, it loses some of that advantage. Also, a train can only stop at one point in its destination city, and it can only load up at one place at its point of origin. So if I drive my car to the train station (less than an hour in LA traffic? Ha!), take the train (for which I will have to wait, since I have to leave some margin of safety), wait while it stops in Barstool, and then I have to figure out some way to get from downtown (where the train tracks are) to my hotel (eight miles up the Strip).

I’ll bet I could beat you if you and I left my house in, say, Santa Monica, you driving to catch the bullet train and me driving my car up I-15. In fact, I’ll be in my hotel room before you even get out of the cab in front of your hotel.

I like trains, and I used to ride the AMTRAK ‘Desert Wind’ to & from Vegas before it was canceled. If the X Train starts service, I’ll be happy to give it a try, especially if they stay with the promised $99 round trip.