How Obama can change travel in the United States

With Barack Obama now sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the whole world is watching to see how he delivers on his promise of change.

While the Obama administration faces a myriad of more import and pressing issues, traveler’s have their own list of changes that they’d like to see Obama put into action.

Rob Lovitt, a travel writer at MSNBC, has a few suggestions for Obama that won’t necessarily cost a fortune and could go a long way toward improving the state of travel in the United States.

Among Lovitt’s suggestions is that Obama should “fix” the FAA, which alludes to the numerous problems facing air traffic controllers. The controllers unions have repeatedly called on the the FAA to adjust workloads, pay and working conditions, preferably before a disaster strikes, but so far the FAA hasn’t done much. Perhaps a nudge from Obama could get things moving in the right direction.

Another suggestion, one that Obama has previous supported, is giving air travelers a “passenger bill of rights.” Like a real, legal bill of rights rather than the never-honored unofficial promises of the industry. What sort of rights? Oh you know, exorbitant demands like the right to food and water during delays and the right to de-board an aircraft after a three-hour delay.

But by far the most intriguing of Lovitt’s ideas is that Obama should “reinvigorate rail service.” As Lovitt writes, “Taking the train from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. for your inauguration — picking up Vice President Biden along the way — was a brilliant idea… it also got train buffs hyperventilating about a new era for train travel, especially high-speed rail.”

Of course, as Lovitt admits, getting a nationwide network of rail service back up and running in the U.S. will take vast sums of money, as well as a considerable amount of time, but at least Obama seems open to the idea. And with gasoline and airfare prices on the rise, train travel is, yet again, looking more attractive.

Granted, there are far more important matters for the new president to deal with, but what are some of your travel-related suggests for the Obama team?

[Photo credit: jurvetson, Flickr]

Posted by | Comments (5)  | January 21, 2009
Category: General


5 Responses to “How Obama can change travel in the United States”

  1. Anil Chand Says:

    The 44th president of the United States, Mr Obama had travel with train was the fantastic tour. He is most populated political leader as well as good person.