(The following editorial appeared on The Republican’s website on February 3.)
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Since the early 1960s, when lawmakers in Washington, D.C., had to tend to business in New York City or in Boston, all they had to do was make the quick trip to National Airport on the edge of town and hop on a once-hourly air shuttle. If the plane happened to be full, that was no problem. The airline would just roll out another one, sometimes in as little as 15 minutes.
No more.
As of Tuesday, Delta, the last in a succession of airlines to offer the backup airliner if the shuttle was full, trimmed its sails to just a single flight per hour. If the plane is full? You can wait an hour. And hope that the next one isn’t full.
We hope that lawmakers remember the golden days of shuttle travel next week when they take a look at President Bush’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins in October. The president is planning on eliminating all operating subsidies that the federal government provides to Amtrak, the nation’s passenger rail service.
There is good reason to suspect that Congress would ignore the president’s request even without the demise of the air shuttle. But its passing does bring into focus the need to sustain each leg of the three-legged stool that is the nation’s transportation system: planes, trains and automobiles.
Anyone who has ever driven to Boston or New York or Washington knows well the inefficiencies of traveling to a major city by car. And anyone who has ever taken an Amtrak train – especially the new high-speed Acela – understands that rail travel is alive and very well in the early years of the 21st century.
That fact does not stop the White House from its annual quest to knock Amtrak off track by failing to provide sufficient funding for the passenger rail service. Always the argument is the same: Amtrak should be able to provide for itself.
And always the argument is equally lame. The nation’s highways don’t turn a profit. But scores of billions in highway funds are spent – correctly – on their upkeep.
When a struggling airline turns to the federal government for help, more often than not, lawmakers – again correctly – move to keep the airplanes aloft.
So why should Amtrak have to play by different rules?
It shouldn’t.
And lawmakers should see that it doesn’t.