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from the walking-will-be-mandatory-soon dept.
It's official: France bans short haul domestic flights in favour of train travel:
France has been given the green light to ban short haul domestic flights.
The European Commission has approved the move which will abolish flights between cities that are linked by a train journey of less than 2.5 hours.
[...] France is also cracking down on the use of private jets for short journeys in a bid to make transport greener and fairer for the population.
Transport minister Clément Beaune said the country could no longer tolerate the super rich using private planes while the public are making cutbacks to deal with the energy crisis and climate change.
[...] The ban on short-haul flights will be valid for three years, after which it must be reassessed by the Commission.
"[This] is a major step forward in the policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions," transport minister Beaune said in a press release.
[...] Sarah Fayolle, Greenpeace France transport campaign manager, told Euronews that there were both "negative and positive aspects" to the European Commission's decision given that only three routes are affected.
"It's going in the right direction, but the initial measure is one that's (not very) ambitious. We must go even further," she said.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Sunday December 11 2022, @10:56PM (4 children)
> There's a tell here. These allegedly better modes of transportation require crippling the competition in order to be viable. Surely, France could figure out to make this work without destroying a good mode of transportation. But if they can't, then maybe they should be going to planes instead for their mass transportation and make it "fair" that way?
If they were approaching this rationally, with the goal of having the best mode of transport, you are completely correct. However the goal here is not to do that. The (official) goal is to reduce CO2 emissions, and that is a political decision, not an economic one. The only real way to do that is to severely restrict the masses energy usage. So the goal is making it more inconvenient, expensive and difficult to travel.
When you think of it that way, the decisions make perfect sense. Flying from Paris to Nice (a common route) will take 1h30 mins by plane. Doing the same trip by public transport will take you 10h15 mins, with 4 changeovers and walking with luggage (and this is assuming no delays or waiting for the trains/buses to arrive, and no strikes). The total cost of the public transport is also more expensive than the flight (and now with flights being banned, and less competition I doubt public transport will get any cheaper).
> And finally, the mind-boggling stupidity of justifying this move because billionaires would rather fly than take a lousy train.
The irony of that justification, is that the rich rarely (if ever) fly on public flights. They fly on private airplanes, which are actually exempt from this rule (just like all the other eco-taxes they are exempt from).
So this doesn't even hurt the rich, they can jet on down to the southern coast in under 2 hours just as before. It makes it hard for everyone else. Perhaps more will use the train, but I suspect fewer people will travel down there anyway (which is a win-win for the "elite", less hoi-polloi around, and CO2 reduction all at once).
Some who have the money and inclination could drive. You can do the Paris-Nice trip in 9h30, (even less than that if you have a heavier foot and can avoid the speed traps), but with the costs of fuel and tolls, that is also reserved for the more well off. At least you just have to load your luggage once, and you don't have any changeovers when in the car.
I mean hell, it would be faster to fly from Paris to London (1 hour), then London to Nice (2 hours) then to use public transport. That makes it an international flight, exempt from these laws. With the benefit of extra costs for the travelers, and extra CO2 output for the government. Perhaps they hope fewer people with bother with this option, because the security screening for international travel is a lot longer and more onerous than a domestic flight (In France you don't even need a passport for domestic flights, an ID card is usually enough, and the security checks are about the same as when you board a bus or train).
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday December 11 2022, @11:45PM
I think they were just virtue signaling. Here is this completely virtuous way we're doing those official goals we claim to care about and sticking it to the superrich - who will now have to two hop to some qualifying middle airport (wasting more fuel and time in the process), if they want to do these routes. Maybe they can perfunctorily get kind of close to the middle airport and count that?
The politicians in this story made noises about sticking it to the superrich in the name of fairness ("France is also cracking down on the use of private jets for short journeys in a bid to make transport greener and fairer for the population.") which sounded to me at the time like it was a real thing. But I wouldn't be surprised if these policies somehow never make it to the superrich.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Mykl on Monday December 12 2022, @04:19AM (2 children)
A couple of comprehension fails:
The ban is on flights where the train journey is less than 2.5 hours. You'll still be able to fly from Paris to Nice.
Correct, but only because of the point raised above.
TFS specifically says that private jets are not exempt from this rule. Where did you get that?
You are right that someone could use an international leg in a journey to get around the requirement, but given that this only applies to destinations that are within 2.5 hours by train the layover would quickly eliminate any benefit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2022, @07:44AM (1 child)
Some dude named "Bogard" has all the mod points, or I'd give you +1 informative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2022, @08:16PM
That's "Bogart" to you!
https://wordhistories.net/2017/12/04/bogart-verb-origin/ [wordhistories.net]
https://youtu.be/dyFKiEDTDJg?t=230 [youtu.be]