The Golden Age of Travel

Was there ever a Golden Age of Travel? If so, was it better than our present age? If our present age does not match up, how can we improve the present?
     To assess the travel value of any time in history, we should look at three things: first, the availability and quality of transportation vehicles of the time; second, the range of places available to visit without great difficulty; and third, the degree of pleasure obtained from the travel experience relative to the investment of time and money.
TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES
     First, let's look at what transportation vehicles were available to the public in different times in recent history. Let's begin with the late 19th century. For long trips overseas there were steamships and sailing ships. For land trips there were horses and horse-drawn carriages and steam-powered trains. Travel was slow. Over land, the fastest travel was by train. Technology had not yet reached a point at which speed was a major factor in travel. In addition, comfort was low, except near the end of the century, when travel comfort was improving on large steamships and on trains.Otherwise, travel was a long, grueling and rather stressful experience. 
EARLY 20TH CENTURY
     In the early 20th century, airplanes came into use, and by the 1930s were beginning to be used by ordinary citizens and not just the military or wealthy hobbyists. Airliners speeded up travel considerably, and comfort was fair. Ships became more luxurious and more comfortable and gained speed, but not enough to compete with airliners. Trains reached a peak in comfort and luxury and were the dominant mode of long and medium distance travel. Their speed and efficiency improved, especially with the introduction of diesel- and electric-powered trains.
     The automobile, of course, came into use at this time and more or less paralleled the airplane in use and acceptance by the general public. 
THE MID-20TH CENTURY
     In the mid-20th century the airplane nearly killed the ocean-going ship as the dominant means of overseas travel, a result mainly of the speed factor. The train, especially in the US, reached a peak of comfort, speed and acceptance and then quickly began to fall behind in usage because of political decisions that granted massive federal funding to build the Interstate Highway system and to invest heavily in airports and air travel, while passenger trains received no such government largesse. 
     So after the Second World War we see autos and airliners swiftly increasing to become the dominant US travel modes, and ships and trains just as swiftly losing their patronage. 
     In some countries outside the US, trains more nearly kept pace with the growth of auto and air travel because of different government policies, which fostered the improvement of railroads and led to much faster trips, as with the Japanese Bullet Trains. 
 

THE LATE 20TH CENTURY
     As the end of the 20th century neared, citizen pressure moved the US government to try to restore the competitiveness of passenger trains, so that travel mode would not be lost to the US. This move, which resulted in the creation of Amtrak, was successful in keeping passenger trains alive and even modernizing and improving their physical equipment to "make the trains worth traveling again." However, political machinations have always kept the federal contribution to Amtrak's budget in a precarious position, and Washington has never made a clear enough commitment to Amtrak to enable its trains to regain more of the widespread acceptance and use that passenger trains enjoyed a half-century earlier.
     More successful was the restoration of short-distance and commuter trains in the US, since that could be done rather piecemeal without a major federal commitment to rail.
STRESSES AMONG TRAVEL MODES
     At the same time, serious stresses were building up in the air and highway travel modes, as their great success had led to overuse, to the point that airport, airways and highway crowding had increased travel times and created frustrating conditions for travelers. So the overall comfort levels for air and highway users began a steady erosion and the quality of US travel took a nosedive. 
     Plans were formulated to speed up trains to make them more competitive with the other modes. Amtrak introduced the high-speed Acela trains in the Northeast, California and other states began planning Bullet-type trains for medium distance trips, and efforts began in various US "corridors" to increase train speeds by improving infrastructure and obtaining higher-speed equipment.
TERRORISM EXCERBATES PROBLEMS
     The terrorist attacks on the US in 2001 served to reduce still further the comfort level of air travel because of the fear of further attacks and the discomforts and further delays in trips due to security precautions. The attacks also tended to bolster arguments for the usefulness of a well-functioning national passenger train system. (Amtrak patronage increased, even during a recessionary period, while air travel dropped, and the government felt it necessary to grant billions of dollars to suffering airlines, while still holding back on making a firm commitment to passenger trains.

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