Re: MF July 28, 2007
- From: INVALID_SEE_SIG@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (J.D. Baldwin)
- Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:42:29 +0000 (UTC)
In the previous article, Detox <detox665@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Railroads may be the most fuel efficient means of transportation
[motorcycles excluded], but they are not the most time efficient
means of transportion. Time is valuable. Given the choice between
traveling 12-14 hours to get someplace [and then rent a car to make
the final jump to my real destination], and flying 2 or 3 hours [and
renting the same car....], I'll take the latter option. The 9 hours
saved is more valuable than the fuel that might have been saved.
Without getting back into the who's-subsidizing-whom aspect of this, I
just want to point out that people's calculations of "time saved" are
very often completely out of whack with reality, because they
calculate from aircraft departure to aircraft arrival, not door-to-
door. It often makes more sense to drive the trip than people figure.
Example: Rochester, MN to St. Louis, MO
Driving: leave at 7 a.m., drive 450 mi. in about 8.5 hours, arrive
3:30 p.m. - total trip 8.5 hours
Flying: leave at 4:30 a.m. to arrive at airport at 5 a.m. for 6:10
a.m. flight, arrive at 9:40 a.m., get bags at *maybe* 10:00,
hump bags to rental car shuttle, *maybe* get rental car by
10:30 a.m., drive from airport to destination by 11:00 a.m.
- total trip 6.5 hours
So flying saves two hours in this example, but note that I've taken a
somewhat pessimistic view of the driving length -- mapquest.com, which
typically overestimates drive lengths, says 8.33 hours -- and made
several VERY kind assumptions in favor of flying:
- Who the hell lives that close to the airport that he can drive
there, park and get to the check-in in 30-40 minutes? Besides
me, I mean?
- Short layover in Chicago for best-possible AA flight scenario
-- more realistic flights are around two hours longer.
- Assuming no flight delays. Of course, you can always hit
construction or traffic snarls when driving, too.
- Assuming you'll have your bag from the baggage claim, grab a
shuttle to the rental car place, and have keys in hand standing
next to the car, all in 50 minutes. Yeah, good luck with that.
- Also generously assuming that one's destination happens to be
within a 30 minute drive from a major airport. Probably about
2% of the land area of the United States meets this criterion.
And I haven't even calculated sheer aggravation from dealing with
modern airline bullshit. I'd rather drive on the Washington Beltway
at 5 p.m. every day for a month than take a two-hour flight on United
Airlines.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / baldwin@xxxxxxxxx|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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- References:
- MF July 28, 2007
- From: Rob Wynne
- Re: MF July 28, 2007
- From: Dann
- Re: MF July 28, 2007
- From: Pat O'Neill
- Re: MF July 28, 2007
- From: Detox
- MF July 28, 2007
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