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Re: End the CASHR blight of our backyards
Author: FUD
Date: 09-25-2020 - 10:45
>Flight time: 1H 30M
They've slowed down, probably to save fuel. Used to be closer to 1:10. The run I've used most often is SMF-BUR, which is usually under an hour for flight time.
As others have pointed out, flight time is often the smallest part of a real trip. Not many people live and work at airports. Most airlines recommend arriving at an airport between 1-2 hours ahead of the flight, for good reason. Security can be a real bear at peak times, as well as finding a place to park and getting to the terminal from outlying parking lots. Or, for that matter, getting to the airport on transit (BART or otherwise) if you happen to live close enough to the transit line to use it and if it runs at usable hours. For me, a typical trip door to door between home and a meeting in downtown LA took (would still take) at least 2.5-3 hours: driving to the airport, parking, shuttle to the terminal, checkin if not done online, security, waiting for boarding and the boarding process, flight time, deboarding process (quicker at BUR than at LAX because both ends of the airplane are used), collecting luggage if necessary, walking to the Metrolink station, wait and train time, transfer to subway or shuttle bus at Union Station, ride around downtown, walk a block or 3 to the meeting location. Yes, I could use a taxi or Uber at the LA end, but the wait time for those would often be as long as the shuttle transit trip. Non-downtown locations would take longer; flying to a different airport and renting a car. So the flight time alone isn't the whole trip.
HSR isn't going to improve on the access times for the mainline trip unless only downtown-downtown trips are counted, or the HSR has suburban stations as well as terminals. Downtowns are in fact more conveniently located than a lot of airports, but they also are less convenient to access due to landside congestion and rarely have long-term parking available. Lots of transit goes downtown, but except for commute expresses none of it is a particularly short ride. So a well-planned HSR line will need those suburban stations, with long-term parking. AND easy connections to any commercial airport along the line (see: Metrolink and Burbank) for other trips. And remember that those rosy comparisons of an HSR trip to an airport trip are mostly for downtown-downtown business trips that don't have significant access time issues for HSR, but have large access time issues for airports that are a long ways from downtown. I don't think you can justify a HSR line based only on business trips, just like airlines offer Really Cheap (nonrefundable, nonchangeable) Fares (possibly priced at breakeven or even losing money) to get the seats filled by non-business travelers.
They've slowed down, probably to save fuel. Used to be closer to 1:10. The run I've used most often is SMF-BUR, which is usually under an hour for flight time.
As others have pointed out, flight time is often the smallest part of a real trip. Not many people live and work at airports. Most airlines recommend arriving at an airport between 1-2 hours ahead of the flight, for good reason. Security can be a real bear at peak times, as well as finding a place to park and getting to the terminal from outlying parking lots. Or, for that matter, getting to the airport on transit (BART or otherwise) if you happen to live close enough to the transit line to use it and if it runs at usable hours. For me, a typical trip door to door between home and a meeting in downtown LA took (would still take) at least 2.5-3 hours: driving to the airport, parking, shuttle to the terminal, checkin if not done online, security, waiting for boarding and the boarding process, flight time, deboarding process (quicker at BUR than at LAX because both ends of the airplane are used), collecting luggage if necessary, walking to the Metrolink station, wait and train time, transfer to subway or shuttle bus at Union Station, ride around downtown, walk a block or 3 to the meeting location. Yes, I could use a taxi or Uber at the LA end, but the wait time for those would often be as long as the shuttle transit trip. Non-downtown locations would take longer; flying to a different airport and renting a car. So the flight time alone isn't the whole trip.
HSR isn't going to improve on the access times for the mainline trip unless only downtown-downtown trips are counted, or the HSR has suburban stations as well as terminals. Downtowns are in fact more conveniently located than a lot of airports, but they also are less convenient to access due to landside congestion and rarely have long-term parking available. Lots of transit goes downtown, but except for commute expresses none of it is a particularly short ride. So a well-planned HSR line will need those suburban stations, with long-term parking. AND easy connections to any commercial airport along the line (see: Metrolink and Burbank) for other trips. And remember that those rosy comparisons of an HSR trip to an airport trip are mostly for downtown-downtown business trips that don't have significant access time issues for HSR, but have large access time issues for airports that are a long ways from downtown. I don't think you can justify a HSR line based only on business trips, just like airlines offer Really Cheap (nonrefundable, nonchangeable) Fares (possibly priced at breakeven or even losing money) to get the seats filled by non-business travelers.
