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   Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 13:57:20 JST Evan Prodromou

   WOW. These results are wildly different than my poll about distances around 500km:

   https://prodromou.pub/@evan/109855866780546735

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 13:58:57 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     I think there are two reasons for this.

     First, there's a threshold between 500km and 1000km where train travel becomes significantly uncompetitive on time compared to air travel; 2x or 3x the door-to-door time commitment.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 14:00:25 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     Second, I changed the phrasing of my question. Instead of, "What is your preferred mode of travel...?" I asked, "What mode of travel did you choose last?"

     I think this cuts down a lot on the social desirability bias in responses.

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social-desirability_bias

     clacke likes this.
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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 14:01:42 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     For me, the last trip I took of this distance was a family wedding in New Jersey. We drove down in our electric car. It was harder than we expected; the availability of chargers in the Adirondacks was pretty lacking.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 14:02:25 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     I may go back and re-run my shorter-distance polls with this new phrasing and see how they compare.

     Thanks to everyone who replied!

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 14:08:23 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • James Brown

     @roguelazer I guess that comes down to how you define "preferred".

     I'd say that my preferred form of exercise is lifting weights, since that's the one I do most commonly.

     But if wine-drinking helped me stay in shape, I'd rather do that instead.

     It doesn't, though, so my habitual or "preferred' form is weight lifting.

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     James Brown (roguelazer@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 14:08:24 JST James Brown

     in reply to

     @evan Its a different question, though. Preference versus reality...

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 14:13:31 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • James Brown

     @roguelazer but, yes, many people thought of "preferred" as "wished-for" instead of "habitual".

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     Till Westermayer (_tillwe_@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 22:50:41 JST Till Westermayer

     in reply to

     @evan I'd also guess that traveling more than 1000 km happens a lot less often (in Europe) than 200 / 500 km travel.

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 22:50:41 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Till Westermayer

     @_tillwe_ yes, I think that's true everywhere.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:13:01 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Guillaume Rossolini

     @GuillaumeRossolini that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about why many respondents might prefer trains at shorter distances but not longer distances.

   • Embed this notice
     Guillaume Rossolini (guillaumerossolini@infosec.exchange)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:13:02 JST Guillaume Rossolini

     in reply to

     @evan
     I can think of a few other reasons that could change one's mind, at least where train and plane are concerned:

     • Having to go through complex security procedures (train tends to be easier) cross border
     • Having to go way outside the city to get to/from the transport hub
     • Noise levels (deafening vs normal)
     • Ability to stand up, stretch your legs
     • Snack choice and when to get them
     • Environmental concerns (fuel per 1000 km per 1000 passengers)
   • Embed this notice
     Vincent 🌻🇪🇺 (photovince@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:18:47 JST Vincent 🌻🇪🇺

     in reply to

     @evan Not just *social* desirability bias, but true desirability vs practicality. I’d love to take the train more often, but it lends itself best for travel to city centers and not for camping or roadtrips (by definition, of course, but also based on the smaller, more rural stops I’d like to make then).

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:18:47 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Vincent 🌻🇪🇺

     @photovince so, first, read about social desirability bias.

     It's the tendency to give answers that conform to one's image of oneself, rather than to one's actual behaviour.

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     aaron@frostmn.social's status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:20:11 JST aaron

     in reply to

     • Vincent 🌻🇪🇺

     @photovince @evan agreed. I can go to Seattle or Chicago by train. Anywhere else I’m driving or flying. I wish I could take the train more.

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:20:11 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • aaron

     @aaron why can't you take the train?

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:21:27 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • aaron

     @aaron where are you?

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     aaron@frostmn.social's status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:21:28 JST aaron

     in reply to

     @evan because it goes two place from where I am.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:22:08 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • aaron

     @aaron I mean, it's a connected network. If you want to, you can get to most cities in the US and Canada by train.

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     aaron@frostmn.social's status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:24:11 JST aaron

     in reply to

     @evan on the empire builder is as specific as I will get. https://www.amtrak.com/empire-builder-train

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:24:50 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • aaron

     @aaron ah. So you *don't* want to take the train, because it takes so long.

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     aaron@frostmn.social's status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:24:51 JST aaron

     in reply to

     @evan sure. But I don’t want to spend a week getting somewhere. We need high speed rail.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:25:18 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • aaron

     @aaron oh, that's a great train! And it goes right into Chicago, North America's rail hub!

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:32:05 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • aaron

     @aaron do you think that's likely?

     I don't think policymakers are going to invest in a network that nobody uses.

     That's just throwing money away.

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     aaron@frostmn.social's status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:32:06 JST aaron

     in reply to

     @evan I want better investments in infrastructure so it’s a more viable option.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:35:04 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • aaron

     @aaron I think if those of us who can manage it shift some of our travel to low-carbon modes like rail, especially when it's only somewhat more inconvenient than flying or driving, it will help build out the rail service and make all trains better.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     aaron@frostmn.social's status on Monday, 06-Mar-2023 23:35:05 JST aaron

     in reply to

     @evan actually let me rephrase that. I would love to spend a week on a train getting somewhere, but the capitalist hellscape we’re forced to live in does not allow for that extra travel time.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@prodromou.pub)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 02:19:14 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Guillaume Rossolini

     @GuillaumeRossolini

     So, 69% of respondents said they'd prefer trains for a trip of 200km.

     23% of respondents said they booked trains for their last trip of about 1000km.

     I am trying to explain the difference in those percentages -- 69% vs 23%.

     I said that two possible explanations of those different percentages are a) the way the question was phrased, and b) the distance.

     I agree that there are lots of factors in choosing a transportation mode.

   • Embed this notice
     Guillaume Rossolini (guillaumerossolini@infosec.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 02:19:16 JST Guillaume Rossolini

     in reply to

     @evan
     I do believe we are talking about the same thing, at least, that was my intent

     Distance might not be the only or the main reason, and respondents may not have made the link between the polls (I hadn't)

   • Embed this notice
     clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Mar-2023 22:16:26 JST clacke

     in reply to

     • aaron
     @evan @aaron yep, be the change etc