For many years before the climate change cult started to embrace electric vehicles as the thing that would save all of us from certain climate doom, the alarmists were in love with “light rail.” Taking a train somewhere instead of driving or flying was going to make the climate safer for everybody — or something.
The love of light rail is alive in France with a new policy that bans short domestic flights when passengers have the option to take a train. But, as is par for the course when the climate crazies get to make policy, it’s not convenient for some travelers.
“The move is aimed at reducing airline emissions but has also irked the industry as it will mostly rule out air trips between Paris and regional hubs such as Nantes, Lyon, and Bordeaux, with connecting flights unaffected,” reports the Daily Mail. “Critics have noted that the cut-off point for comparable train journeys is shy of the roughly three hours it takes to travel from Paris to [the] Mediterranean port city Marseille by high-speed rail.”
The French government passed a law in 2021 that included the ban, and some carriers had begun implementing the regulation. But the ban just recently officially took effect.
The idea, of course, is that travelers would be able to go somewhere by train, spend the day at their destination, and return home the same day. In case you’re wondering about the reliability of rail in France, the law mandates that train travel work for passengers.
“The law does specify that train services on the same route must be frequent, timely, and well-connected enough to meet the needs of passengers who would otherwise travel by air — and able to absorb the increase in passenger numbers,” the Daily Mail points out. It’s hard not to imagine that all of those things are easier said than done.
It’s worth pointing out that there’s some cronyism involved. The government got Air France to go along with the ban as early as 2020 in exchange for COVID-19 financial relief.
One airline industry group decried the “symbolic ban” and called for more permanent solutions to emissions issues, but what’s particularly galling is that the ban isn’t going to do much to stem the alleged tide of climate change.
CNN reports that “T&E [cleaner transport campaign group Transport & Environment] estimates that the three routes affected by the ban represent only 0.3% of the emissions produced by flights taking off from mainland France, and 3% of the country’s domestic flight emissions (counting only mainland domestic flights).”
You read that right. The ban takes care of roughly a third of a percent of the country’s airline emissions. Way to go, France! You’ll save the planet in no time at this rate!
Other critics have mentioned that French passengers had already begun choosing train travel over flying before the bans were in place, so the government’s actions may be too little, too late.
“No one will be fooled by this measure: passengers are naturally turning away from taking flights on these routes,” said Guillaume Schmid, former vice president of Air France’s pilots’ union, according to CNN.
We shouldn’t be surprised at this symbolic and utterly ineffective move by the French. These people will pat themselves on the backs even though they’re doing nothing to solve the problem they’re so worried about. It’s exactly how the left handles every other situation.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member