Quote:
Originally Posted by accord1999
Even with significantly higher mass transit share, over 80% of ground passenger-km in the EU-28 is provided by cars. Even if not to the same level as North America, I would still consider that domination.
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HSR is exclusively transport between major cities. If Western Europe has (say) 80% car share (which I doubt), that means a gigantic share of urban residents (probably like half) rely on modes other than cars.
In the U.S., cars have like 95% share, and in every metro but NYC are like 90%+ auto share, so HSR is a longshot.
And then you have to consider that intercity driving in Western Europe generally doesn't make much sense. It's often tolled, it's generally much slower, with much more congestion, gas costs more, and there's nowhere to put your car. North America has none of these issues.