And another thing…
Amtrak should sharply expand its presence in the passenger transport economy. The goals:
1. Eventually ban flights of less than 300 to 500 miles (depending on the market). These short flights are choking our airways and unnecessarily accelerating airport construction. This kind of air traffic should be handled by rail. Flying from Los Angels to Las Vegas, for example, is a particularly silly thing to do. Here is where Amtrak should duplicate the service between Seattle and Portland.
2. Substantially reduce air pollution, average travel times in autos, and drastically slow highway construction. The automobile is holding us hostage to foreign oil, most of which comes from countries with sinister agendas for our security and survival. Our dependence on Arab oil will compromise our emerging war on terror. Highway construction is mostly a waste of money. The effort merely moves bottle necks from one place to another, feeds an enormous, permanent, nation-wide construction project, and sustains our dependence on oil. I've read that average travel times in some big U.S. cities have increased 1000% in the past 10 years. I can't find a study that reveals the destruction this must be bringing to our families.
3. Some people can not, or will not fly. Oxygen bottles are no longer allowed on most airlines, the airlines can not accommodate severely handicapped passengers, and 20% of the U.S. population is afraid to fly for one reason or another. What alternative would these people have without Amtrak? What about the Americans with Disabilities Act: could the act allow us to go to court if Amtrak fails?
Moving forward, Amtrak should not be required to make a profit (it is impossible, so why even consider it), or even sustain itself in a manner the U.S. Postal Service tries to do. The U.S. Postal Service enjoys a monopoly in certain services. In time Amtrak could enjoy a similar suite of monopolies in short distance travel, intra-city travel, and long-haul routes that serve key metropolitan areas as a strategic alternative to air travel. Until then, Amtrak should only be required to provide high quality and reliable services that serve the strategic and cultural interests of the nation. The nation needs to get to a place where it doesn't depend on any single industry. We will not be able to recover from another attack on our airlines.
I am one who believes the lingering recession we are currently enduring has part of its origins in the reluctance of business people to travel. I am one of these people. Though I'm not afraid to fly, the experience is too much of a hassle for me to justify the time I have to waste in security lines. I spent more than 2 hours in such a line in Fort Lauderdale last week. That's two hours completely wasted and lost forever. With only a few exceptions, I've said "good by" to all of my customers who are not on an Amtrak route. Though I may spend days rather than hours on a train, at least I still have control over every hour in all those days.
