Us rail travel v. public transport..?

Question

just wondering..i was reading a comment posted by someone on another website..what are my options for public transport in the states..can i catch normal public transport, ie hop on off, just buy a ticket at the train station - 'normal' vs. have to travel on the amtrak?

im pretty confused on this..help is appreciated!!

cheers.

Answer 1

You can go to this site:

http://www.amtrak.com/

for our national railway system here in the US.  You will notice that there are far fewer schedules for trains in this country than in yours - that's true.  Your question asks about "normal vs. Amtrak" - I'm not sure what you mean by that.  There's a lot more open space here between cities, and our national rail system has been done in by competition from roads and airplanes.  If you want to get around in the US, between cities at any rate, your better options are either renting a car, or taking a plane and then renting a car when you get there.  There are a few exceptions, such as the high speed rail link between Boston, New York, and Washington DC.

In large metro areas there are good networks of commuter rail, light rail, and buses.  You can get info about this by searching by city on the web.  In big cities like New York and Chicago, people are able to live without owning a car, though in Los Angeles that's not so typical.  Even smaller towns and cities have bus and possibly light rail going through them, but by and large, the US moves about by auto.