I like the Shinkansen but it's also very expensive - that journey is ¥14,170 one way, and the discounts for return tickets or advance booking are vanishingly small. Even with the incredibly weak yen I can see same-day SF-LA flights cheaper than that.
Tickets from SFO to LAX can be cheaper, but that's usually not for optimal times. Sure you can get a round trip ticket for $80, but you'll be leaving at 6 in the morning or something like that. Additionally, you'll have to go through security, not be able to bring your own beverage (or water), sit on a much smaller seat, and not have Wi-Fi.
In other words, I think $95 one way on an extremely punctual bullet train with high availability is a steal.
Do your flight costs include parking, the costs of getting to and from the airports, the value of your time, the mental hassle of airport security theatre, the costs of additional luggage and so on?
"Fair" depends on what you're using it for. Parking at airports can be expensive, but parking at Tokyo or Kyoto station is more so. The stations themselves are more confusing and less well-signposted than an airport. And if you want to take oversize luggage (e.g. a surfboard) that's a moderately priced upgrade on a plane but completely impossible on the Tokaido Shinkansen.
No comparison is perfect. The best you can do is talk about both the positive and the negative so that people can understand and make the best choice for their circumstances. Price should absolutely be a part of that conversation.
You're comparing apples and oranges. In America, parking at the airport is absolutely normal, because it's a car-based culture and there's generally no public transit to the airport. There's enormous parking lots for cars at all airports there. The alternative is usually a very expensive cab ride, or trying to get a friend to drive you.
In Japan, parking at the train station isn't normal in the least; I don't think they even have a place to park there. The normal way is to take public transit there. Same goes for the airports (at least in Tokyo); it's not normal to drive, it's normal to take the train, though some people take taxis because they have a lot of luggage and carrying heavy suitcases on the train is a pain.
> In Japan, parking at the train station isn't normal in the least; I don't think they even have a place to park there. The normal way is to take public transit there. Same goes for the airports (at least in Tokyo);
Right, exactly. So adding the cost of parking to the cost of the flight but not the train would be misleading.
Wrong. Adding the cost of parking in America to the flight is correct, just like adding the cost of public transit in Japan to the train trip is correct.
The original post was using the Shinkansen as an example to argue that America should be building high speed rail between SF and LA. But if there was high speed rail there you'd still need to park. If the poster wanted to say that travel in Japan was better because they have good public transport so you don't have to park your car near an airport, that would be a legitimate thing to say - indeed IMO good metropolitan public transport makes a much bigger difference than flashy high speed rail. But that wasn't the argument they were making.
The Shinkansen pitches itself as broadly price competitive with flights, but more convenient and more comfortable. In that sense it’s not expensive, it’s greater value.
They have a tiny number of those 50% discounts that are always sold out even if you apply as soon as ticket sales open, IME. And note that even then they're only on the less popular lines - you'll never see a discount like that for Tokyo-Kyoto.
