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Re: The BBC Rides the Empire Builder to Gauge U.S. Voter Sentiment
Author: mook
Date: 09-19-2016 - 16:53
>Not sure what reality you inhabit. There are trainloads of Americans
>who eat at places other than McDonald's (how does one explain the
>presence of non-chain restaurants). There are also many who do not
>go to Starbucks or drink coffee at all (including me) and who do not
>drive SUVs (they drive small sedans, use public transit, walk and/or
>(to the consternation of many TO posters) ride bicycles.
Amen! As a practical matter, I do all of those things, as appropriate for the trip and circumstances, and when needed (hauling 4 people and a week's luggage on a 800 mile round trip to Disneyland) even drive a SUV (rented for the trip). I do drink coffee, and I do use Starbucks (where they also have very overpriced tea), but also go to other places, though I do avoid the high-snoot places (my limit for a cup of coffee is $2-2.25 depending on what I add to it). I also occasionally ride regional Amtrak. I'm not a Young Urban Professional; in fact, I'm retired, so I should be in the Long Distance Amtrak generation, but the budget and other matters don't allow for a lot of time away from home.
Frankly, I'd expect BBC to get both ends of the spectrum (older white people, probably somewhat conservative in outlook, with plenty of time and enough money, possibly Trumpers; and young people who don't have the money but do have the time for travel by plane, or who just want to see something other than The Interstate, probably Clinton or Bernie folks) on the train. But less of The Middle because The Middle is too busy trying to make a living and raise a family to afford the time it takes to ride the train, let alone the price of a sleeper (how Amtrak can NOT make money on First Class is beyond me). There probably are a few who are in the can't/won't-fly category, but really there aren't a lot of people in that situation who must travel and can't drive (and don't want to ride Greyhound) Now THAT would be a good trip report: maybe they'll take the bus back to CHI from Seattle?.
Anyway, being a sucker for things BBCish (yay Dr. Who, and many things that eventually appear on Probably Been Seen), I'll watch for when something is broadcast. For others who might be interested note: many BBC video things are not available on the web outside of the UK, so a VPN with presence there might be needed for somebody in the US to actually watch the show online.
>who eat at places other than McDonald's (how does one explain the
>presence of non-chain restaurants). There are also many who do not
>go to Starbucks or drink coffee at all (including me) and who do not
>drive SUVs (they drive small sedans, use public transit, walk and/or
>(to the consternation of many TO posters) ride bicycles.
Amen! As a practical matter, I do all of those things, as appropriate for the trip and circumstances, and when needed (hauling 4 people and a week's luggage on a 800 mile round trip to Disneyland) even drive a SUV (rented for the trip). I do drink coffee, and I do use Starbucks (where they also have very overpriced tea), but also go to other places, though I do avoid the high-snoot places (my limit for a cup of coffee is $2-2.25 depending on what I add to it). I also occasionally ride regional Amtrak. I'm not a Young Urban Professional; in fact, I'm retired, so I should be in the Long Distance Amtrak generation, but the budget and other matters don't allow for a lot of time away from home.
Frankly, I'd expect BBC to get both ends of the spectrum (older white people, probably somewhat conservative in outlook, with plenty of time and enough money, possibly Trumpers; and young people who don't have the money but do have the time for travel by plane, or who just want to see something other than The Interstate, probably Clinton or Bernie folks) on the train. But less of The Middle because The Middle is too busy trying to make a living and raise a family to afford the time it takes to ride the train, let alone the price of a sleeper (how Amtrak can NOT make money on First Class is beyond me). There probably are a few who are in the can't/won't-fly category, but really there aren't a lot of people in that situation who must travel and can't drive (and don't want to ride Greyhound) Now THAT would be a good trip report: maybe they'll take the bus back to CHI from Seattle?.
Anyway, being a sucker for things BBCish (yay Dr. Who, and many things that eventually appear on Probably Been Seen), I'll watch for when something is broadcast. For others who might be interested note: many BBC video things are not available on the web outside of the UK, so a VPN with presence there might be needed for somebody in the US to actually watch the show online.
