Devil's Advocate
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Meet the Essential Air Service, a nationwide welfare program that hands taxpayer money to commercial airlines in order to subsidize short flights to small rural airports, often with few or even no passengers.
Frankly a good start would be "All subsidies provided to EAS cities with an Amtrak station shall be transferred to Amtrak"
It's hard to know how much of the EAS costs is Alaska/Hawaii/Puerto Rico, which is hard to do any other way.
The rest of it could all be replaced with trains much more cheaply. For a really extreme example, why the hell is Quincy IL on the EAS list? It already HAS train service. It does not need air service. Same with Burlington, IA, and Havre, MT, and McCook NE. Also White River Junction VT, Plattsburgh NY, Devils Lake ND, Altoona PA, Lancaster PA, Johnstown PA, Greenbrier, WV...
Frankly a good start would be "All subsidies provided to EAS cities with an Amtrak station shall be transferred to Amtrak"
You do get that there's a lot of very poor Native Americans up there too? The rural areas of Alaska are often quite poor with no other infrastructure near. Now whether this should be strictly a state issue is a different debate.I can understand why politicians and chamber of commerce folks would want their town to have direct commercial airline service. I just don't agree that the rest of us should be paying for it in 2019. If your town can't manage even one revenue positive airline link then it's either too small to matter or too close to another airport to be worthy of taxpayer subsidies. That being said I'm fine with reasonably measured subsidizing of passenger rail service or comfortable shuttle service if rail is impractical. Hawaii wants to be environmentally minded so they can use taxes for modern boats if they'd like. People move to Alaska for the increased salaries so let them buy revenue positive tickets rather than sending the bills down to people making less. That's my opinion anyway.
Perhaps, but there are some subsidized routes that are redundant, and such. It's one thing to subsidize a service from a remote part of Alaska, or even Montana, but subsidies for flights from Hagerstown, MD, which is very close to BWI or Harrisburg, or Augusta Maine, which is close to Portland, don't seem to make sense.I don’t see anything wrong with subsidized air service, just like I don’t see anything wrong with subsidized train service. Many of us on this forum would loathe our local train being replaced with a bus. I’m sure there are many patrons of these subsidized air routes that would loathe them being replaced by a train or bus.
You could make a rational case for subsidizing some air service, just as bretton88 did above, but the way EAS was deployed (often in the form of low density flights serving small towns within driving distance of larger airports) is not the way to go about it (IMO). Consider federally funded flights between Hawaiian islands. If you can't afford the cost of an island flight then you can't afford Hawaii. If the state of Hawaii wants taxpayer funded support for non-tourist travel then I would suggest those taxes go to boats instead.I don’t see anything wrong with subsidized air service, just like I don’t see anything wrong with subsidized train service. Many of us on this forum would loathe our local train being replaced with a bus. I’m sure there are many patrons of these subsidized air routes that would loathe them being replaced by a train or bus.
Not every little 2-bit burg in this country needs to have air service to be connected to the airline network.
Does Jefferson City,Mo. have Air Service or are the River Runners the only Public Transportation to Missouri's Capital?I think that in some cases, it is a matter of prestige that causes places like Augusta, ME to want air service. After all, it is the state capital. Not unlike certain cities wanting so-called "vanity flights" to international destinations, as we've discussed in previous threads...
The Columbia (MO) airport is located between Columbia and Jefferson City (about 15ish miles from Columbia and 20ish miles from Jefferson City).Does Jefferson City,Mo. have Air Service or are the River Runners the only Public Transportation to Missouri's Capital?
There's definitely an argument for optimizing the EAS (could a bus or train be a better/cheaper alternative? Are some cities too close to a major airport? Etc). For example, why is Burlington, IA an EAS City? The CZ goes through there at good times. There's an argument whether such services should be provided at the state level instead of the federal level. However, just like other modes of transportation get subsidized, I do believe the EAS should be available in some form. In some remote areas it might be able to combine with cargo deliveries.You could make a rational case for subsidizing some air service, just as bretton88 did above, but the way EAS was deployed (often in the form of low density flights serving small towns within driving distance of larger airports) is not the way to go about it (IMO). Consider federally funded flights between Hawaiian islands. If you can't afford the cost of an island flight then you can't afford Hawaii. If the state of Hawaii wants taxpayer funded support for non-tourist travel then I would suggest those taxes go to boats instead.
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