France bans short-haul flights to cut carbon emissions

[Stinky The Clown]

France bans short-haul flights to cut carbon emissions

Published 4 days ago

France has banned domestic short-haul flights where train alternatives exist, in a bid to cut carbon emissions. The law came into force two years after lawmakers had voted to end routes where the same journey could be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours. The ban all but rules out air travel between Paris and cities including Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux, while connecting flights are unaffected.

Critics have described the latest measures as "symbolic bans".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65687665

More at the link

[Tetrachloride]

1. The story should have put the math in the first paragraph

[roamer65]

2. Every little bit helps.

[Think. Again.]

3. This, and more...

The article says "Critics (gee, I wonder who they could be) have described the latest measures as "symbolic bans".

The U.S. needs more of those symbolic actions of any kind.

When Biden won on his climate crisis campaign platform, I was gleefully expecting a deep and consistent public relations program along the lines of our WW2 "War Advertising Council" to build nation-wide support for his stated target of ending fossil fuel use.

I realize that a lot of work has to go on behind the scenes to get this done, but I think we're missing an opportunity to initiate public and private activities and investment that could reduce CO2 emissions on top of the actions that only the government can carry out.

[nycbos]

4. It is symbolic.

Say you are in a city like Marseilles and you want to do some sightseeing in New York City. Before you would probably Connect in Paris, and then fly onto New York. Now you would probably connect in a place like London or maybe Dublin. Your flights still have the same carbon impact. The only thing we're doing in this case is hurting your own domestic aviation industry.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. This essentially ends all domestic flights in France

A flight for the longest possible distance in the country is well under 2 hours; actually closer to 90 minutes.

The TGV takes 3.5 hours for Marseilles and Paris, but is onely about $20-$25 on way.

[WarGamer]

6. With the quality of their transportation system...

Good for them.

Trains from Paris to... Reims, Chartres, Orleans and Nantes just make sense.

Hell, even Paris to Brussels is only 90 minutes

[Trailrider1951]

7. We could use some of that here

I live in the Tacoma WA area, and it makes NO sense to fly from Sea-Tac airport to Portland or Vancouver, BC. Amtrak Cascades trains charge about $30 one way to each of these cities, and while Amtrak takes a bit longer, it is a much more relaxing way to travel between the cities. I could also say the same for my former state of Texas. I used to live north of Austin and visit my sister in Ft. Worth. Again, I could take Amtrak from Taylor TX to Ft. Worth for less than $30 each way. I also used to live in Houston and back in the 1990's there was a day train that would go from Houston to Dallas, but it was cancelled by the budget denying republicans. It makes NO sense to fly from Austin or Houston to DFW, and I'm sure most of you can name city pairs in your own area that would benefit from expanded Amtrak train service. Just my 2 centavos.

[Wounded Bear]

8. They have high speed rail. And even their regular rail is better than ours...

That's about it, really.