<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2022/dec/07/should-australia-follow-france-and-bid-adieu-to-short-haul-flights>
"If a flight is so short you don’t have time to finish your complimentary
cheese and biscuits before having your rubbish whisked away for landing,
chances are there’s a more environmentally friendly and convenient way of
getting to where you’re going.
The French government’s recent decision to ban short-haul domestic flights
between cities that are connected by a train or bus trip of less than two and a
half hours has sparked some energetic debate this week about whether Australia
could follow the French in moving away from short-haul flights.
So could Australia invoke a similar ban? An obvious candidate would be the
sub-one-hour Canberra to Sydney flight, often frequented by bureaucrats and
politicians. However, without meaningful policy reform, the idea is unlikely to
take off.
For decades, cleaner and faster transport options (like high-speed rail up the
east coast) have been touted in Australia but rarely delivered. The French
government is in a position to ban some shorter flights because viable
substitutes exist – but the same cannot be said here. The two main alternatives
to the Canberra-Sydney flight are the train or the bus, and neither option
comes in under two and a half hours. In fact, the Paris to Lyon stint is nearly
200km longer than Canberra to Sydney, but the train takes half the time, with
more frequent services.
In an ideal world, alternatives to the Canberra to Sydney flight would already
include a reliable, affordable, and frequent high-speed train, and an electric
bus fleet, made in Australia and driven in a dedicated bus lane."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
