• ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    They usually advise you not to get out of your car for the exact reason they advise you not to get off the train.

    I’m not sure what’s exclusive to trains about breaking down in the middle of nowhere. It’s not exactly trivial to get a replacement car either, nor is repair somehow instant.

    I get what you’re saying, but it’s way less one sided than you’re trying to convey. My car once broke down on the freeway in a city. I had to wait more than an hour for a tow and then walk home, which took two hours. Had to get random coworkers or friends to take me to work while my car was repaired over the next two weeks.

    Oh, and traffic jams are routine for cars.

    Nothing is gained by pretending there’s no downsides to any mode of transportation. They all have them. In aggregate though, most people would be better off if we had more available than just “car”.

    • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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      2 days ago

      I’m not comparing the inconvenience of both situation from the breakdown to the cost of repair.

      I’m talking specifically about getting stuck in train on a hot day. Is that really so difficult to understand?

      https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/22/rail-passengers-travel-heatwave-train-services-chiltern

      Have you ever seen red heat alert advisory telling people to drive only if necessary and take precautions? I haven’t. Why do you think they issue those for trains but not cars?

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        https://www.gbnews.com/lifestyle/cars/weather-air-con-postpone-car-journeys-warning

        It adds: “Give yourself the best chance of avoiding delays by checking road conditions if driving, or bus and train timetables, amending your travel plans if necessary.”

        This has been echoed by the RAC, which explained that red extreme heat warnings are incredibly rare, and called on Britons to take them seriously.

        Data from the organisation states that breakdown volumes are expected to be around 20 per cent higher today than what’s normal for a Monday in late June.

        I literally just searched for it and trivially found them.

        They’re specifically saying vehicles without air conditioning, while also discussing worsening road conditions, increased risk of breakdown, and a general need to limit travel.

        They issue the warnings for trains and not cars because train rails expand in the heat, meaning service cancellation is more likely and deferring optional travel reduces stress on the system.
        Any time there is stress on a transit system they advise people to skip using it if necessary.

        Your position is not hard to understand. It’s just one-sided because you’re only considering the downsides of one method, and not considering what the same situation looks like for the other.

        • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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          1 day ago

          They’re specifically saying vehicles without air conditioning,

          Exactly. They are talking about driving a car without AC. The rail one is talking about taking a train with AC.

          Again, I’m not comparing the two modes of transportation and all their aspects. I’m not even saying that trains are bad and cars are better. I just pointed out that being stuck in a train during a heatwave is a terrible experience. It does happen and is a real concern for people in Spain. I personally know claustrophobic people that avoid trains for that reason and prefer to take a bus. The big difference for them is that they can get out of a broken bus while you can’t just leave the train whenever you want. Many people don’t like being stuck.

          Those are all simple facts but people here are so adamant that trains are better in every way they can’t accept them. They will instead argue that you can in fact open windows and doors in a train (you can’t) or start talking about the total repair time of a car (irrelevant).

          • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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            1 day ago

            It’s not exactly irrelevant when you brought up repair time and alternative transportation.

            I feel like you didn’t read your own article. The AC on the train doesn’t really factor into their warning.
            They advised people to avoid the train to avoid congestion of the system because trains travel slower when the rails heat up.
            They advised people to defer car travel because roads will be more congested due to heat causing mechanical issues in car engines. They also said if you don’t have ac that it could be actively dangerous.

            Listing a big list of cons for one and then saying the other one doesn’t have them really makes it seem like a comparison, particularly when it doesn’t seem like an equally applied standard.

            • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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              1 day ago

              Listing a big list of cons for one and then saying the other one doesn’t have them really makes it seem like a comparison, particularly when it doesn’t seem like an equally applied standard.

              Ok, you’re right. Whatever you’re trying to say about cars vs trains is true. Statistically they are equally dangerous during heatwaves. Shit, let’s even say cars are more dangerous. And take longer to repair. And are more expensive. You can even say trains never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down. I don’t really care about all this. We only started talking about it all because people like you are not able to accept that being stuck in a hot train is a shitty experience. You can’t admit that while you can exit a car you can’t exit a train whenever you want. You have to talk about everything else because for some reason this simple fact ruins your world view. I don’t know why and, frankly, I don’t care.

              • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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                21 hours ago

                If you don’t care, why are you putting so much effort into arguing it and getting so defensive?

                You’re acting like no one is understanding or accepting what you’re saying. I responded to you saying a train malfunction leaves you stranded in the middle of nowhere for hours, and a car malfunction doesn’t. Which is a a preposterous statement.
                You then followed up with an article about skipping optional travel due to possible delays and capacity issues and took that as evidence that the air conditioning was the problem.

                You haven’t shattered my world view, you’ve made a shitty argument and then gotten sad when people said it was shitty.

                • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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                  14 hours ago

                  You’re acting like no one is understanding or accepting what you’re saying.

                  Because obviously no one is. Even you’re still talking about “being stranded” while I very clearly explained I’m talking about not being able to exit the train. For some reason you can’t admit that people get stuck on trains.

                  You haven’t shattered my world view, you’ve made a shitty argument and then gotten sad when people said it was shitty.

                  The only thing that made me sad is realizing how many people don’t know how trains work.

                  • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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                    9 hours ago

                    Ah, I see what happened. You had a point about one thing. “No ac on train bad, and if they don’t let you off it’s very uncomfortable”.
                    You backed that up with a bunch of stuff that didn’t make sense. People responded to that stuff, and you got pissy that no one listened to the part you cared about.

                    Can you see why maybe I would respond to statements about being stranded when that’s most of your comment? Why an article about train congestion is confusing if your point is “stuck on train bad”?

                    You can’t get too upset when people respond to the words that you say instead of the points you wanted them to pay attention to.