nbailey
Can’t upvote this enough. It’s not the consumers, it’s the dealers calling the shots. Some examples:
Looking for a Corolla hybrid: no dealer had one, and all of them said it could be 18 months or more before one would be available
Looking for a RAV4 suv: we have 8 on the lot take your pick
Looking for a Mazda 3 hatchback: the only one in the colour you want is a six hour drive away and no we can’t transfer it here
Looking for a CX5 suv: we have literally a million of them
In both examples the cars cost almost the same amount to build. They have the same drivetrain, engine, transmission, etc. But since the “suv” or “crossover” is taller and bigger they can charge 20-30% more, earning them more commission and dealer fees, so that’s what they order from the manufacturer. Unless you have months to wait, you take what you get.
It’s not perfect, but the new (2019+) mazda system is very nice. It’s all controlled by buttons and dials, zero requirement to ever touch a screen. It all feels quite thoughtfully done, especially when you compare it to fords or teslas with a big dumb laggy iPad stuck to the dash.
Local options are always better. The Mexican joint sells you a massive breakfast burrito for $6. Nepalese takeout will feed you for days for $16. Hot dog truck will fill you up with delicious processed meat for $4.
Subway? Subpar lunch made out of cardboard and ground up yoga mats for almost $20.
GOAT vehicle. It’s purely functional in pristine egg form. Bulletproof drivetrain. Comfy as hell, even by today’s standards. If one ever comes up on autotrader in good condition I’m buying one.
So the reality is a bit more complicated than “big sparse country”. Freight railroads don’t really care about population density, just distance and operating margins. It comes down to who owns the rails and their motivations.
A big capital investment like electrification is actually extremely profitable long term. Over 30-40 years it would save a class 1 railroad about 25% of their operating expenses for fuel and maintenance (diesel-electric units are complex high maintenance systems compared to big-ass AC motors). Even when factoring in debt servicing over that period it’s still a large overall win.
The problem is that a big investment like that isn’t attractive to CN or CPKC, because they’re mainly concerned with positive quarterly reports. It’s the same reason our tracks are so shabby, it’s not that they can’t afford to it’s that their motivation is to move freight for the absolute lowest cost, speed and reliability be damned.
In Europe & Asia the infrastructure is commonly owned by a state corporation, and they’re generally more willing to take on big projects like that so they can get more revenue from the train operators themselves. More passengers and higher speed = more tax revenue. The incentives are just different in that situation
Another fun fact… if you were to add up the bonuses, dividends, buybacks, and dumb vanity projects (CN Tower) in the past half-century, they’ve already blown through more than double what it would cost to electrify and upgrade the most serviced trackage in the country. Instead we made some old guys obscenely wealthy.
I feel like “weird” misses the mark. It’s quite hurtful to people who are outside the norm and proud of it.
“Creepy” is a way better description of those guys.
It sort of does make sense, since it’s how trains work so well! A single locomotive can haul dozens of carriages way more efficiently than putting a single small motor on each carriage. It also has way less aerodynamic losses since the trailer is right in the slipstream for the truck!
It’s a good week to be a Gojira fan 🤘
