I live in southwest Washington State. We have a transit bus, paid for by federal tax dollars, that cruises around town empty the majority of time.
AMTRAC runs daily between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. It, too, is mostly empty. The automobiles on Interstate 5, running nearly parallel with AMTRAC, move faster. Three people in an automobile can travel more cheaply than those same three people could riding AMTRAC.
Like I said, albeit tongue in cheek, will the government force people at gunpoint to ride trains?
AMTRAC runs daily between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. It, too, is mostly empty. The automobiles on Interstate 5, running nearly parallel with AMTRAC, move faster. Three people in an automobile can travel more cheaply than those same three people could riding AMTRAC.
Well the facts are that Amtrak carried 1,196,483 passengers in Washington State in 2008, and 813,753 in Oregon the same year.
So obviously those trains aren't as empty as you say.