• Home
  • About

Evan Sparks's Aviation Policy Blog

A wonk's-eye view of everything in the sky.

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Did you know?
Aviation08: The Obama aviation plan »

A misleading lede

September 5, 2008 by Evan Sparks

I was surprised by this lede in a recent Financial Times story: “Most Americans spurned air and road travel over the Labor Day holiday weekend but flocked on to trains as high oil prices and the economic downturn continued to hold sway over US consumers’ spending patterns.”

First, most Americans (like me) did spurn weekend travel. According to the FT story, 51 million people traveled by air, train, or more than fifty miles by car. The story is right that air travel is down and train travel is up, but look at the figures:

  • Airline passengers: down 1 million people, or 6.5 percent, to 16 million people.
  • Road warriors: down 320,000 people, or 1 percent, to 34.4 million people.
  • Amtrakkers: up 10 percent to a total of 322,000.

Does that sound like “flocking” to you? 1,300,000 fewer people traveled on airlines and highways over Labor Day than last year, and the FT would have you believe that 30,000 more travelers on Amtrak constitutes a massive shift in mode preference.

(And why does the FT reporter leave out bus travel? Greyhound serves almost as many passengers per year as Amtrak at 25 million, let alone all the other motorcoach operators. Surely coaches can be much more easily substituted for travel than Amtrak.)

Outside of the dense northeast corridor, Amtrak is simply not a viable substitute for air and car. Its cross-country routes are too long, its schedules too infrequent, its destinations too few, and its delays too common. That’s not to say that some sort of high-speed rail system won’t work here–just that Amtrak ain’t it.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Evan's Fiskings | Tagged competition, travel |

  • Recently on the APB

    • America vs. Europe: who overrates whom?
    • Scare headline not so scary in article
    • Crew rest and training, new ATC contract, and more
    • The solution to NYC’s airport woes?
    • And… I’m back
    • Nothing to see here
    • Let your left hand not know what your right hand is doing….
    • Evan around the web
    • This is just ridiculous
    • Liveblogging Randy Babbitt’s confirmation hearing
  • 2008 aerospace airports air traffic control alitalia american asia ata atsb australia pacific Aviation08 BAA british airways budget airlines business canada competition congress consumer advocacy continental delays delta Deregulation 2.0 dot emirates energy environment europe faa fedex general aviation geography health history humor iata icao klm korean labor latin america lufthansa media Merger Mania 2008 mergers meta middle east middle east/africa military misc. nationalism network airlines northwest open skies politics prestige regulation ryanair safety sarcasm security small communities southwest Southwest and the FAA space tax transit travel tsa united usa us airways virgin virgin america world
  • Archives

    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
  • Find me on Facebook!
  • Banner photo: Washington during landing at National Airport, November 2007. © Rachel Ayerst. Used by permission.

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Evan Sparks's Aviation Policy Blog
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Evan Sparks's Aviation Policy Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: