5 Comments »

1. He’s right. Besides, taking the train between nearby cities brings you from city-center to city-center without one hour check-in or travel to/from outlying airports.

   We drastically need to improve intercity rail. At least CA voters approved Prop 1A, which will build high-speed rail. Mexico is building it, China has it, meantime we bail out failures who make ugly cars.

   Comment by Bryan SFO — November 18, 2008 @ 3:15 pm

2. Airline Deregulation has failed.

   What did we get?

   1. Airline bankruptcies. We were supposed to get many competitors to keep airline ticket prices down. What did we get. Bankruptcies and crazy fares that have penalties attached that a lawyer would find impossible to understand. Most trips needed in a hurry have excessively high fares

   2. Prices that are nothing more than bait & switch.

   3. Free tickets for Frequent flyer’s paid for by corporations & used by non-paying employees.

   4. Lies/cheating on schedules “on-time performance.”

   5. Stuck on aircraft without rights to disembark.

   6. Increase in total trip time due to hub/spoke system and reduction in non-stop flights.

   7. Reduction in quality of service across-the-board. Food, seat size, etc. …

   8. Baggage problems.

   9. Excess flight schedules that exceed airport capacity guaranteeing congestion and delays.

   10. No airline profits. Where is the economic viability and the PROFITS. Would anyone invest in an airline?

   The “Free Market” has failed.
   Is it time to conclude Deregulation is not in the “public Interest” and we should establish a “passenger bill of rights” and REGULATE in-the-public-interest?

   Comment by Bill D — November 18, 2008 @ 3:56 pm

3. I’m surprised one of the founders of the network model would make such a suggestion vis a vis trains. Trains are fine for some short-haul stints — great for some in fact. But If I have to get from D.C. to New York to connect to a long-haul flight, I’ll be damned if I would want to start it out with a three-hour train ride that likely won’t even take me to the airport I need to fly out of.

   I’d rather fly to Chicago or some other hub I could fly into and connect seamlessly out of there — and so would many others, which would then lead network carriers out of the affected communities. How is that fair commerce?

   Comment by DG — November 18, 2008 @ 3:59 pm

4. I’m wondering if Crandell could be more specific by what he means by a “good railway system.” New York - D.C. might have lots of trains between them - but that doesn’t mean the system is “good.” There are so many infrastructure and on-time problems that I wouldn’t vote a system, even between New York and D.C., any more than “fair.” When there are reliable high-speed and local/regional trains, then we can talk about expanding it more. But until then…..

   Comment by Elliot Campbell — November 18, 2008 @ 4:10 pm

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