UK: What is the point of Trains as public trasport

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The problem with trains is that they cannot leave the rails, so they are stuck on a predetermined route and they cannot go on the roads either, although trams can but even trams can only follow the railroads. Another problem with them is that the railroads appear to acquire more maintenance then roads do; where I live in Croydon there is always someone working on the damn railroads.

Answer to this problem is to dig them up and put a road in its place and limit access busses and couches emergency services and make those roads work to their full capacity because it seem stupid to me that while the roads are always busy the railroads remain largely empty except for an odd train every 15-20 minutes each way. Some people argue that trains are more environmentally friendly then busses because they are electric. However they are not that efficient in comparison with electrical powered buses because so much electricity would have been lost in their electrical grid network due to limited conductivity. And it is also a false economy if other forms of public transport like buses are caught up in traffic and are wasting fuel as a result.

The thing is to have a road where at least only buses would be allowed, simply reduces so much complication. No overhead power cable stuck up in the trains, no railroad safety checks and maintenance, no fat cats sucking subsidised transport system, just some privately owned buses with a special licence to use the roads.

Trains are faster.
If I was going from Manchester to somewhere outside of the North West, I'd rather get the train and go straight there than sit on a bus for hours.

We need more trains; not less. buses and cars are so slow. When I took a bus to NYC, it took 6 hours nonstop. It takes 2.5 hours on a train even though it stops a billion times.

the bus went max of 75 mph (anything more would be dangerous even without any traffic). Train goes at more than 150mph...

In inner london trains don't go that fast and the only reason why they do go more then 75mph is because the railroad is vertually empty. There is a lot of space of those railroads it is time we use them by digging up those tracks and putting some buslanes on them instead.

You can drink on a train, and eat and read.
Also you do not have to worry about parking, and some chav trying to nick your car.

I like trains. Apart from going through really long tunnels, that makes my ears hurt. People always seem to eat at train stations though, everywhere you like there's someone eating.

From my experience, I think that trains are a fantastic option for inter-city transportation. Meaning, if I want to go between Prague and Pilsen or Prague and Kutna Hora, the train is probably the best way to do it. The fact that they are on rails and must stay on rails makes them desirable, since traffic jams don't effect you when you're in a train. Czech doesn't have TGV or Maglev trains, so you don't get to very high speeds, but trains are still faster. They also run off electricity, so they don't pollute as much as other things.

For intra city transportation, there are better options such as busses and trolleys. Prague and New York also have subways - they are very efficient. They are also trains, but the trains are pretty short so they can speed up and slow down quickly enough to be able to make frequent stops.

I like the fact that Czech has busses that draw power from the overhead electrical grid so they don't pollute. Where this is not available, the busses stink. The inter city busses aren't electric, so that's another reason not to take them - on top of the traffic problems on Czech highways.

In Utah, there is pretty much no good public transportation so I drive. I really wish I didn't have to. I hate having a car.

I can't read in a bus, makes me sick.

And the busses always bloody jolt in and out of the bus stops - and there's one of those every 100 metres.

The bus drivers fight the traffic lurching and cutting in, standing in big queues of red walls that you can't see out of like prison, and the diesel exhaust sneeks into the cabin so yo have to breathe shallowly, and the whole time the engine reverberates and the bars, seats and windows shake and shudder.

IT'S TORTURE I HATE BUSSES.

What a ridiculous idea. Trains are infinitely useful to someone like myself who cannot drive and who has to travel to London 3-4 times a year. Who the hell wants to sit on a crowded bus for 2-3 hours when they can be in London in just over an hour? Jeez, I mean, look at the difference in travelling times for going to Edinburgh by bus or by train.

This site http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/ has many links about ways to replace trains. Some are in the air and use alot less power than trains.

Dudes I am not comparing trains to existing buses, but what it would be like if the railroad was replaced with a carrage way that only buses are allowed on.

The trains stations would stay the same, and you would buy tickets the same, the buses could even be almost the length of a train. Vertually everything would be transparent to the train user except the trains would be buses.

Buses are slow and noisy. There are always scary teenagers on them as well. Train are so much better than buses. There are enough buses on normal roads, we don't need more.