It is indeed a very big place.

But this fellah seemed to have that part figured out: Bike to the train station, and take the bike on the train. That part seems straight-forward. The train stations were near-enough to where they wanted to start, and near-enough to where they wanted to be.

The problems they lament seem to revolve chiefly around the specifics of taking the bike on a train, and the limited schedule of the train, and the lack of adhesion to that schedule.

Those problems wouldn't be improved if the vastness of the US were reduced, would they?

Recently, on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47815395

There are lots of potential high-traffic corridors, and the US is still incapable of serving them.