A homogeneous mobility system: cars and for medium and long distance trips, airplanes, doesn't work in crisis

Travelers waiting at a TSA checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday. Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg News

Trains.  An AP writer took the train from Atlanta to DC to avoid the chaos at Hartsfield Airport due to the federal shutdown of pay for TSA agents ("Midnight train from Georgia: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle in the shutdown").  Most places don't have that option.

Planes.  The crush at Hartsfield is being played out similarly at airports across the country ("Why the TSA Lines in Atlanta Are Longer Than Other Airports," Wall Street Journal).

Plus there is the issue of the Iran War raising jet fuel prices ("As oil prices rise, airfares are surging and some airlines might not survive," Los Angeles Times) making fares higher, although trains face higher diesel fuel prices (and would do better if more lines were electrified).  From the article:

United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby said this week that his company could face an $11-billion loss if oil prices remain at their current levels. Meanwhile, United’s airfare could increase by 20%, he said.

With thin profit margins and oil prices hovering around $100 per barrel, airlines have no choice but to pass the increased costs onto consumers.

It would make more sense to develop the passenger railroad system on medium distance trips focused on shifting trips from plane to train, such as DC to Philadelphia, or NYC or NYC to Boston, Dallas to Houston, etc., but the airlines advocate heavily against such a policy change.

Proposed High Speed Rail Network.

Many European countries have developed high speed rail networks in part to divert airplane trips to trains.  

Brightline Florida is a rail line from Miami to Orlando, targeting tourists.  According to the Mark Brown Substack "Car Free America," "Brightline Passenger Rail Is Booming While America Still Has No Real Alternative to $4 Gas and $400 Domestic Flights."

Automobiles.  The Iran War is why gas prices are up over 50% in the US.  A car-dependent economy has no real alternative but to keep driving.  Some cities have decent transit systems, and may experience a rise in ridership.  

Most metropolitan areas don't have the right form to make transit work very well, regardless of the cost of gasoline.

In response to the oil shocks of the 1970s, countries like Denmark and the Netherlands reshaped their mobility and land use policies to favor walking, biking, transit, and compact development, to reduce their dependence on automobility and fuels (gas or diesel) produced elsewhere.  Unlike the US, they didn't say biking and walking is good to do, and then didn't change policies much to make this policy in practice, they changed all kinds of laws, imposed high gasoline taxes, etc.

Mark Kauzlarich, Bloomberg.

The US did impose efficiency requirements on the car industry and some environmental efficiency measures to reduce energy use and under Carter reduced speed limits on Interstates to 55mph and created right turn on red rules (saving cars from having to idle).

But mostly, the US doubled down on gasoline-dependence, investing in the military around maintaining access to oil, and by creating the Strategic Reserve--the idea was to buy gas when it was cheap, and put it on the market in dire circumstances.

Ethanol.  The US also adopted ethanol requirements.  But they are a waste.  In the US, ethanol is made from freshly grown corn, using agricultural resources.  In Brazil, instead the feedstock is used cane sugar stalks, so they are reusing waste to make fuel, rather than expending more resources than what are gained back in energy density.  Ethanol doesn't save gas really, but it does help provide demand in agricultural states like Iowa, making them strong defenders of the process.

Ford and other automakers have spent years building up a supply chain to support their rollout of EVs. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Electric vehicles.  They are still cars, and an automobile-centric land use and transportation paradigm is a poor use of land and resources.  

But electric vehicles are an environmental strategy and tactic  Having an electric car insulates drivers from hiccups in the oil-gasoline supply chain that result in severe price increases ("What to Know About Electric Cars When Gas Prices Are Surging," New York Times).

Hill Family Bicycle Group with the US Capitol in the background

Bike, walk (and transit).  In the MinnPost ("Skip Starbucks to save gas? There are better strategies") Bill Lindeke suggests walking, biking or using transit as alternatives to high gas prices.  He writes from Minneapolis-St. Paul which has a decent light rail and bus system.  Most cities don't.

Heterogeneous mobility paradigm.  The difference between the US and Germany is that both manufacture cars, but of the two, only the US produces oil ("The Petro States of America," Bloomberg).  

That could be the reason that Germany has a much more heterogeneous mobility policy. 

It loves its cars--known for autobahns without speed limits--but recognizes cities are best served by transit, and most major cities have multiple modes well serving their communities.  

The German Transport Association model created in Hamburg is a model that US metropolitan areas should adopt ("The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association," 2017, "Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 2018) .

Barcode public art project.  A40 Autobahn/Freeway, Ruhrgebeit-Essen, Germany

For the past few years, for sustainability and climate change reasons, it's sponsored a national transit pass ("The Deutschland-Ticket for just 63 euros per month," DB).

Germany also promotes walking and biking (the Federal Bike Plan in its various iterations always turns out to be good).