Category Archives: Travel

Travel

Higher oil, fewer flights

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Last week, USA Today delivered a colorful map visualization — of course they did — about the changes in domestic air service spurred by the increasing price of oil. Colors points out who are getting flights (New Orleans is a winner; a rebound?) and the larger number of losers. Mouse-over the states to get details on specific airports. Boston, for instance, is losing 4.5% of its seats this October.

  1. This is worth noting when choosing vacation destinations and if you are planning meetings.
  2. It also offers a cautionary tale about waiting too late for getting a flight ticket.
  3. It points out how much more demand there might be for passenger rail, especially for medium-haul trips.
Car-free, Sustainable living, Travel

A vision for U.S. passenger rail

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With gasoline within sneezing distance of a United States average of $4 a gallon and continuing airline cutbacks and failures, let me return to domestic passenger rail.

I was looking at a list of Metropolitan Statistical Areas — this is what led me to the Micropolitan areas I mentioned last week — because the National Association of Railroad Passengers has a vision plan to bring passenger rail to many, many more Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical areas (and state capitols that don’t fit that category) than Amtrak currently serves. (The rest are reasonably close to lines to allow for bus connections.)

A lasting solution means, of course, more than adding new cars or even new lines. The national rail infrastructure has been undersupported for years and freight pressures on the current rail system are likely to be more pressing than the wildest possible increases in passenger service. And there’s no reason one should lose to the other.

Even though I’m a confirmed Eastern Time Zoner, I’ve added Midwest High Speed Rail, Improving Amtrak Incrementally to my Google Reader news feed list. (Some of the most interesting movements in passenger rail are found in the Midwestern states.)

Dan Johnson-Weinberger, its author, advocates rail supporters contact their federal representatives in support of HR 6003, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which would increase “the amount of federal money to match state capital investments.”

I agree. See if your member is on the co-sponsor list (more about that next time) and if not call his or her office, ask of the legislative aide for rail or transportation affairs, and make your opinion known.

We can plan and prepare now, or suffer later.

Open, Technology, Transit, Travel

More on FOSS for transit

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I put my last post on free and open source software for transit systems out as a lifeboat, thinking it would bob on the waves of the Internet until someone — far from now — might read the post and wonder. I didn’t think I’d get a reply so quickly.

So I’ve looked further for options.

  1. I asked the American Public Transportation Association’s point person if she knew anything. Not FOSS, but here’s their list of bus management software. Which, I suppose, might help a willing amateur like myself ask the right questions in future.
  2. I did find this Linux Insider article from March 2008 about FOSS traffic management solutions, which cited a project at the University of California, Davis. Not transit, but I’d think there’s some room for overlap
  3. That UC Davis program and this project especially. Again, to inspire
  4. Then there’s the legal imperative in a number of European and Latin American governments to use fee and open source software where available. So perhaps something is out there, but not in English.

I’ll keep looking.

Car-free, District of Columbia, Travel

Greyhound steps up

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“The Dog” has a bad reputation of being the intercity tranportation mode of last resort. That’s a shame. Many countries enjoy inexpensive, efficient (if not fancy) bus transportation. And that’s an efficient use of depleting petroleum.

And oil jumped above $120 a barrel on Friday.

But Greyhound’s service stinks. Hubby was shocked that you didn’t get a reserved seat, as I discovered when I took a bus — no, was prevented from taking a bus — on a three-leg, 15-hour bus ride to my paternal grandmother’s funeral last year.

But I got an email yesterday inviting me to join Greyhound’s “road rewards” program, and I did. (But it makes more sense to register just before taking a bus trip, as rewards expire.) That, $5 reserved seats from some markets (including Washington) and a much more usable website makes me think someone is paying attention.

Car-free, District of Columbia, Travel

Megabus enters northeastern corridor

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Back in 2006, I first wrote about the UK-based Megabus entering the US market, and giving riders an option between the hard-worn Greyhound and the under-regulated (“is that antifreeze?”) “Chinatown” buses. (Link, to give you an idea of schedules and fares.) They’ve since moved to locations in California and Nevada, and have now announced a New York hub with service as far a-field as Washington, Boston and Toronto. Could the bus be getting sexy? Or at least a viable option for those with choices? Intercity bus ridership is up, even on “the Dog”, and a fuel crisis and recession will probably encourage this trend.

To show it isn’t a fluke, Bolt Bus, a cousin of Greyhound (both are owned by UK-based FirstGroup; does that make them “Scotstown buses”?) has begun selling tickets between Washington and New York, and plans service between New York and Boston. Not to be forgotten, I’ve known people to ride and like the “post-Chinatown” carriers like DC2NY.

Wifi, refreshments and reserved seats are some of the amenities you might get in this new generation of intercity bus, rather than sketchy ticketing and questions about what’s being carried in that first luggage bay. But this advance seems to bring variable pricing, too (not on DC2NY) meaning those $1 come-on fares really mean the worst of airline pricing has come to ground transport.

Lastly, what about the South? Surely there’s an opportunity in the Triangle-Charlotte-Atlanta corridor?

Car-free, Sustainable living, Travel

Oil touches $100

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Well, after a few week of sliding prices, the forecast of a cold winter and crisis-threatened supply briefly pushed the New York price for crude oil to $100 a barrel. Ouch. Here’s a place for you to comment about your feelings: hope, worry, anger, what have you.

For what it’s worth, Hubby and I try to minimize our use of oil, in part because we have better options and it surely will cost so much more. An example. Except for a short bus ride and a cold-weather-prompted three-mile cab ride, all of our travel in our Baltimore trip was either electrically powered — Amtrak, tram and two subway systems — or foot powered. I am modestly warm towards nuclear power, for what it’s worth.