Quote:
Originally Posted by SIGSEGV
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This is more of a symptom than a cause. The US is culturally car oriented for a variety of reasons ranging from extreme post war prosperity to it's huge open expanses to nefarious business "strategies" like GMs dismantlement of street car networks.
The fact is America can afford to be car oriented and, in some ways, it's necessary. I just drove to Denver (something I do 3-4 times a year) which is 1000 miles one way. This time my Dad and I went to my sister's house with all of our tools to renovate a big section of it. When you are talking a unified society spread over those distances, mass transits not really doing diddly squat. Obviously it has its uses in dense urban areas and corridors, but the vast vast majority of the United States doesn't fit that bill.
This is like asking why China has all kinds of HSR and the US does not... Well gee, maybe it's got something to do with the fact that China has 1.5 billion people in the same space that the US has 300 million?
Though I gotta say, it's really nice to be able to drive all the way from Chicago to Denver and only pay like $2/gallon for gas. E-85 in Nebraska was as low as $1.85. a few years ago it was headed towards a dollar. I think I saw E-85 at like $1.30 a couple years back when oil prices were tanking.