Posted on 05/19/2010 6:27:53 AM PDT by Willie Green
LONDON – The volcanic ash cloud that's closed European airports in recent weeks is changing travel habits, leading to a surge in rail and ferry bookings.
Richard Branson's Virgin Trains is reporting increased demand on its London-Scotland route. Channel Tunnel rail company Eurostar says summer sales are up, and ferry operators Stena Line and Irish Continental Group say that recent gains in bookings are more than a blip.
The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano on April 14 grounded 100,000 flights in six days, costing airlines $1.7 billion in sales, figures show. Further bursts have closed airspace across parts of Europe.
"This is becoming a big issue," said Bob Atkinson, a consultant at London-based Travelsupermarket.com, an Internet travel agency. "Many people are now asking themselves whether they should risk booking a flight."
Eurostar carried an extra 100,000 people during the first airport closures and has experienced a jump in bookings "distinct enough to suggest that it's on the back of the disruption," spokeswoman Mary Walsh said.
The ash cloud has "caused people to look at high-speed rail differently," Walsh said, with an independent online poll between April 21 and 23 suggesting 84 percent of travelers would "definitely" or "probably" choose trains over planes for travel from London to Paris and Brussels.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
OK - shoulda known you posted this;) LOL!!
So....what potential for human travel do you see in large pneumatic tubes?? You know, like they use at the drive-in Bank teller kiosks???
I’m thinking they could be strung across oceans and land masses with exit roll-off ramps.
sod:)
Well Paris - London is only about 2 hours if you take the
Eurostar train so why fly there anyway? But if you want to travel from paris to rome for example? I guess the option that you would have to spend 14 hours in a train does not look very attractive.
That works fine for Europe, where travel is largely city to city, and the cost of automobile ownership is prohibitive for so many. I took my family from northern Illinois to Connecticut, and decided to drive rather than fly because the frequent flier rules were so onerous, the fares were high, and the airport hassle actually outweighed the inconvenience of driving 1,000 miles with a 9, 6 and 1 year old. I also liked having my car on the other side. Going from LA to Chicago ain’t like going from Paris to Frankfurt. If Mount Saint Helen’s blows again, and plane traffic is grounded, people won’t run to trains. People will go to their cars.
Took me a second read to realize that the homosexuals (ferries) were not taking trains so they could jump into a volcano.
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