[HEY4QDEMS]

"If you chose to travel by high-speed rail rather than by highway, that four-hour trip would take you approximately 50 minutes,"

What about the stops?

There's always stops.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Wasn't this a Simpsons episode?

[Tokra]

I've always thought the best way for auto long distance travel is a compromise - let the cars be hooked to some kind of moving conveyor (just like in the car wash) that could whisk them along at extrememly high speeds. The driver wouldn't have to do a thing - you could even take a nap. When you arrive at your destination, you'd exit from the conveyor system and drive off on your merry way.

This would give the best of both worlds - the privacy of being in your own vehicle coupled with the cheaper and faster travel of mass transit.

If these conveyor systems could be put in tunnels and use maglev/bullet train technology, you could drive across the country in a matter of hours.

Someday it will happen.

[numberonepal]

Mobile to Tallahassee in 2 hrs 45 minutes in a friggin' Civic. Exactly 240 miles door to door. Doing the math makes that an average speed of 87 mph. Beat that bullet train!

[kevkrom]

What about the stops? There's always stops.

The solution is to use small-size vehicles (3 person cpacity means that no group has to be split up in such a way as to force someone to ride alone who does not want to) with "off-line" stations so that people stopping will not hold up the rest of the traffic. The specific solution linked is a monorail-based system, but there's no real reason not to apply the same principles to ground-based rail as well.