(1) I can get wifi on a bus from Boston to New York, with a cheaper one-way fare (limoliner); the lack on amtrak mostly means that they're not even trying.
(2) If I fly to a city, I can get a rental car [ie, "ability to go where I really wanted to" which is never the airport/transit terminal itself] without leaving the building, usually. If I go by train, I might be connected with an existing transit system which also doesn't go where I need to :-) (One "straightforward" (handwave handwave) fix to that is to actually have drive-on/drive-off service for more than just the train to disneyland... I'd use that within New England, even - after all, if I don't have to meet another form of transit, I don't care so much that amtrak won't ever be there on time :-)
(Let's see, Jeff already covered the theft of public land; people have mentioned Europe - trains in Europe are nice, but they also don't have much in the way of suburbs :-)
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(1) I can get wifi on a bus from Boston to New York, with a cheaper one-way fare (limoliner); the lack on amtrak mostly means that they're not even trying.
(2) If I fly to a city, I can get a rental car [ie, "ability to go where I really wanted to" which is never the airport/transit terminal itself] without leaving the building, usually. If I go by train, I might be connected with an existing transit system which also doesn't go where I need to :-) (One "straightforward" (handwave handwave) fix to that is to actually have drive-on/drive-off service for more than just the train to disneyland... I'd use that within New England, even - after all, if I don't have to meet another form of transit, I don't care so much that amtrak won't ever be there on time :-)
(Let's see, Jeff already covered the theft of public land; people have mentioned Europe - trains in Europe are nice, but they also don't have much in the way of suburbs :-)