More Airlines Means Lower Prices

How Airline Competition Helps Consumers

Imagine that you happen to have a ton of vacation time and are planning a trip. You want to fly somewhere cheap, but where should you go? Well, according to a new study, air routes that are served by the highest number of carriers also tend to be the cheapest. So when trying to book your vacation, it may make the most sense to fly between large airports that are served by several carriers. Here is the chart that explains how the number of airlines effects prices per mile.

A Travelers Dilemna

While this chart is great news for someone living in say New York, what does it mean for people from smaller cities? Typically we think that larger cities like New York, Chicago and Boston have high costs, but when it comes to air travel the opposite tends to be true. If you are a frequent traveler, you may actually spend much more money if you live in Burlington, Vermont than if you live in Boston. For domestic flights, small airports with few routes can be almost five times as expensive for flights from large airports! 

In theory, this would suggest that we should, as a society, build large airports or no airports at all. Rather than trying to serve all small metropolitan areas with airports, we should theoretically consolidate power into mega-airports in order to further reduce prices. The only problem with this is that it would shut many people out of the market. If for example we did shut down the airport in Burlington, Vermont, people who lived here would be stuck. The closest large airport would be nearly 5 hours away in New York City. That's no good, at least not for now.

A Transportation Solution

The issue comes down to a matter of travel efficiency. For long trips, say more than 500 miles, it makes sense to travel by plane because it saves the most time. But say you need to travel only 250 miles. The optimal trip in this case it to take a high-speed train because the time that you would save from not passing through security at an airport would make train travel faster. So in our theoretical model of small airports, Burlington should shut down it's airport and those wishing to travel a long distance should take a high-speed train to New York and then fly to their destination. 

So in reality, the issue is that there are not enough trains in America. Unless you are traveling between Boston, New York and D.C., nobody wants to travel by train because there are no trains. If however, we were willing to invest in reasonable public transportation by means of train, we could save travelers tons of money by not forcing anyone to fly out of small airports for "convenience." 

A New Way to Plan Commutes

Isoscope: Dynamic Traffic Mapping

Whenever we need to know how long it would take us to get from one location to another, we likely all use Google Maps. I have nothing but great things to say about Google Maps and I love all of the detail that it provides. But, a new map tool has just been released called Isoscope, which allows users to see a visual plot of travel distances in all directions at a given time. Rather than seeing how long it takes to get to someplace, you can see how far you can get anywhere in a given amount of time!

Here's a picture to show you what I mean.

The white dot is the starting location. The outlines show in this case how far you can get in six minutes on a Friday. There are different outlines that reflect traffic patterns at different times of day. This map quite easily reveals the difference between distance and speed! 

Here's another example. If you start on a highway, the map becomes quite skinny reflecting the difference in travel speed between interstates and backroads. 

Try selecting your house and see how long it takes you to get places. I bet the map will reveal some interesting things!

Why Boston Should Not Bid On 2024 Olympics

Boston Olympics Would Be Wasteful

With the winter Olympics in full swing in Sochi, the Olympic Commission has begun pondering a bid for Boston to host the games in 2024. While hosting the olympic games can show the pride of a city, it also has many downfalls. If given the option to host the Olympic games in 2024, Boston should reject the idea.

Olympics Are Too Costly

Each Olympic cycle, host cities spend billions of dollars on infrastructure to develop impressive stadiums for the games. In general, these stadiums are quite beautiful and provide excellent backdrops for the games, but once the festivities are finished, cities are left with empty and expensive stadiums. If Boston were to host the games, it would have to build a massive Olympic Village for the occasion. 

Betting Boston's future on the success or failure of an Olympic bid is highly risky. Historically, many cities lose hundreds of millions of dollars through the hosting of games. Boston has enough to be proud of, it doesn't need to risk it's solid ground by footing an Olympic sized bill. Many local businesses would likely benefit from the games, but the city would likely find itself mired in debt. 

Boston Has No Room

Boston is among the most densely populated cities in America; it also is one of the smaller major cities. Simply put, Boston has little room for a sprawling Olympic Village. In order to clear enough space for the games, Boston would need to wipe out entire neighborhoods and reroute traffic throughout the city. The city already has a complicated network of roads, trains and subway lines; building Olympic routes would only add to the confusion.

The only conceivable area that Boston could build stadiums would be Hyde Park or West Roxbury. These neighborhoods are among the most hopeful in Boston and are undergoing rather rapid gentrification. If the Olympics were to come to town, this could interrupt or reverse many of the gains that have been made in these neighborhoods. Additionally, this part of the city is challenging to access by road and subway, so the Olympics would likely cause and extended traffic nightmare for the city.  

My Trip with Public Transportation

America Has a Long Way to Go

I often write about the benefits of public transportation and insist that it is quite often the best way of traveling from place to place. So I decided to try something new, and I took a vacation where I travelled only by public transportation. I traveled by foot, bus, train and subway around the northeastern United States.

Overall my trip looked something like this.

I took a train from Worcester - Boston, a bus from Boston to NYC, a bus from NYC - D.C. and finally came home via a bus from D.C. - Boston and a train back to Worcester. I spent two nights in New York and three in D.C. While in each of these cities I traveled only by foot and through the subway.

I am not sure whether to be impressed with or disappointed by the public transportation that I took throughout my trip. On the plus side, the trip was extremely cheap and all of my traveling, including the subway fares for the week cost less than $100. I found this to be really convenient. On the flip side I realized that unfortunately I could have traveled much faster by car. For example, my final trip from Washington to Worcester from end to end lasted about 17 hours for me, but had I driven the trip would have been only around 8 or 9 hours depending on traffic.

Future Developments

Right now I will admit that despite my best efforts to travel via public transport, it was really inconvenient even in the highly developed northeast corridor of the country. In other areas I'm sure that the problems are even worse. While it was possible for me to get to all of my chosen locations, it was always a challenge and I am not sure if I would choose to travel this way again. This being said, many of my transportation options, such as Megabus, were not available even just 5 or 10 years ago. I see a lot of potential for this country and particularly the Northeast to expand public transportation options over the next decade so that eventually it will even be preferable to take trips this way rather than driving. 

Love in the Urban, Modern World

Love vs. Economic Opportunity

In my posts I tend to focus a lot on the technical aspects of urban planning, but it is important to think about how our increasingly urban society actually effects us as people. Over the last 50 years we have become both more urban and more mobile; this can often present unique challenges to people in serious relationships, especially when children are involved. There was a time not so many years ago when men were expected to bring home all of the income for a family and things were less complicated as a result. If a job opportunity presented itself far from home, the man would take it and his wife and kids would follow. While moving around like this would still effect the family, the effects have become even greater today as more and more relationships are composed of two income-earners.

We are Increasingly Mobile People

Now more than ever before, Americans are likely to have a variety of jobs between the beginning and end of their careers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person can now expect to have between 12 and 15 jobs in their lifetime. These jobs could all be in the same area, but that seems unlikely. It has also become much harder to find a stable job over the last ten years, which makes it harder for a person to turn down the opportunity to relocate for a new position. The Census Bureau estimates that after age 18, the average American will move 9 times. 

How Love Fits In

Imagine this. You are an eager college graduate ready to take the best job that you can find. You find one job that you are happy with but you know that every few years you will need to move to a totally new area and that you will have to do lots of traveling. This sounds like a great opportunity and you have always wanted to travel. It would be so easy for you to move from place to place and you are excited about the prospects of seeing the world.

But not so fast. Your significant other, also a recent grad, has a similar opportunity with a different company. Now what?

In 1950 the answer to this question would have been easy; the situation surrounding it would be in all likelihood very different. A man would have this great opportunity and he might already be engaged or married after college to a woman who he would expect to bear children and stay at home. The man would have taken the job and his wife or girlfriend would have followed.

But now that women and men have the same (hopefully) opportunities in the workforce, this is so much more complicated. Not to mention the fact that there are so many new relationships that were not acknowledged years ago. We could be talking about a homosexual pair or a pair with a large age gap. The world is no longer so black and white. 

Now What?

Right so it is extremely complicated. Both people have the opportunity to take jobs in different cities and both people want to focus on their careers. One person could follow the other, but they would likely have to give up some of their career opportunities. Many couples try to avoid this problem, but it is almost bound to come up at some point when the world has become so mobile.

In this situation you have a variety of choices, none of which are clearly better than the others and each requires a lot of sacrifice. You could both take the jobs and enter into a long-distance relationship or break up. You could try to prioritize careers by who will make the most money (what a depressing conversation). Or you could both skip out on your offers and continue to search for jobs in the same area. 

It comes down to a very dreary choice: for love or prosperity? There are many cases where you can end up with both, but you will have to make a leap of faith in one direction or another and hope that the other part will follow. No matter what choices are made, there is ample opportunity for resentment either of one's partner or of one's career. 

As of now, I cannot think of an efficient or reasonable solution to this modern love problem.  

Montreal Highlights

The Best Parts of Montreal

As you may know, I just returned from a weeklong trip to Montreal. I haven't posted at all while I have been gone, but now that I am back I wanted to share some of the highlights of my trip with all of you. First of all I have to say that Montreal is a beautiful city and it is probably my favorite place that I have visited so far. Many things about the city are very progressive and it seems to do a lot of things really well. I give it an A for urban planning! I will post pictures of some of the places that I went that I really enjoyed!

As a side note, I wanted to mention that the city is huge. I spent about five days just walking from place to place and I feel that I still missed entire neighborhoods within the city. And when I say I walked I really mean it. I used a Jawbone Up Pedometer to measure my distance and I ended up walking 60 miles!!

Underground City

These two pictures I took while I was walking around in Montreal's Underground City. At first I was really skeptical and I wondered what an underground city was, but I quickly found out! It is a network of interconnected malls, apartments, shops, businesses and subway stops that can all be reached without stepping outside. This is really useful in the winter when temperatures rarely rise above freezing. I wasn't sure what exactly to expect, but many parts of this subterranean maze were quite beautiful. All in all, the Underground spans about 18 miles of downtown. Of course I only got to see a small portion of this, but it was completely worth it.

Old Port

The Old Port area was one of the biggest surprises for me. I didn't even really expect to visit the area but I sort of stumbled upon it by mistake. It is one of the oldest parts of the city located on the eastern bank of the St. Lawrence River. There are three long wharfs extending down into the river that have many restaurants and bars. This area is separated from the rest of the city by a long railroad park that runs along the river. It was a bit challenging to get to this area as it was a bit of a walk from the nearest metro station, but it was well worth it. 

Old Montreal

 

This was one area that I knew I had to see. Old Montreal is really the oldest part of the city and it has long cobblestoned streets that are closed to cars in many places during the summer. This part of the city felt very European and the buildings were absolutely stunning. Walking through this area you could really feel that Catholic history of the city. There were also tons of restaurants around here but they tended to be out of my budget!

Parc du Mont-Royal

As expected this was my favorite part of the entire city. The park is essentially a mountain that overlooks the entire downtown and is located right in the center of the city. It is a long walk up the mountain; it probably took me about an hour and a half, but it is certainly worth it. The views from up here are absolutely stunning. I have never been anywhere that has a view that compares to this urban park.

Botanical Gardens

This was one of the most surprising parts of the city. Halfway through the trip I changed hotels and moved to the Northern part of the city and my hotel happened to be right next to the gardens. I wasn't sure at first it it would be worth paying $25 to look at trees and sculptures, but I am so happy that I did! The gardens are collections of giant flower sculptures and some of them stand 20 or 30 feet tall. These were two of my favorite exhibits in the park! 

There are many other things that I could share about the city, but these were some of the quick highlights for me. Besides, I also ran into the problem where I filled up my available space on my iPhone so I had to reduce the number of pictures that I took. If you want to hear more about the trip let me know and I'd be happy to write more about the city!

Traveling to Montreal

Places I Want to See in Montreal

I am about to leave for a weeklong trip to Montreal and I am publishing this post for two reasons. The first is to let all of my readers know that I will be posting much more sporadically over the next week, and the second is to talk about the places that I want to go in Montreal. I'm hoping that anyone who has been here in the past will let me know what they think of my ideas! I realize that I will have limited time once I arrive and so I will need to pare down my list a bit. Here are my ideas!

 Mont Royal Park

This park I feel is a must. It is a huge hilltop that overlooks the downtown of the city. I really hope that it is as pretty as it has seemed from pictures. The name Montreal actually is said to come from this park.

Musee de la Basilique Montreal

Despite the fact that I am not a religious person, I do admire cathedrals for their architectural beauty. I have been to many nice churches in the past, but the photos of this one seem amazing! I really want to check it out.

Old Montreal

Old Montreal was the first part of the city to be built. Roads here are cobblestoned and there is a strong French flair. This is consistently ranked as one of the must-see parts of the city!

Montreal Botanical Garden

I am usually not super interested in things like botanical gardens, but I have been recommended to see this spot. I am excited to see if the gardens are as interesting as they seem to be from pictures!

Olympic Stadium

Fortunately my hotel is right next to the stadium so I do not think I will be able to miss it. It looks great again from pictures, but I wonder if there is anything interesting inside or if it just looks nice from the outside. I have also heard that you can ride up the tower for panoramic views of the city!

Underground City

This is my final attraction on my list and I may miss it. Montreal seems to rave about the underground city as a way to keep warm in the winter but as of my last check, the weather looks like it will be great for my trip so I may not want to venture underground!

I will say that I am proud of myself for being able to make this list! I haven't actually been yet but I was able to think of these places from memory, so hopefully I will have a successful trip once I arrive! Let me know if I'm missing anything important!

Top 3 European Travel Destinations

Best European Cities for Tourists

I will start this post with a disclaimer, I have not actually travelled to any of these places. Yet. I am still in college and right now there is no way that I would be able to afford to travel as much as I would like! I'm sure that when I am older and actually can afford plane tickets to travel, my perception of my favorite places will change, but based on my own research and desires, here are a list of the 3 European destinations I would recommend visiting.

1. Monaco

I wanted to start with Monaco because it may be a destination that some may feel is a bit obscure. And it is. This picture actually captures the entire country, which is less than 500 acres. Monaco is a resort paradise located near the French city of Nice on the French Riviera. It has a mild climate year round and a unique mix of local, French and Italian cultures. Monaco is known for having great casinos and nightlife.

2. Copenhagen 

Copenhagen is a medium-sized city located along the Baltic sea. It is the capital of Denmark and known as being one of the happiest and most liberal cities in the world. Copenhagen is a city of bikes and friendly people. The city is also known for being environmentally friendly city. Despite all of these good things, I would recommend only visiting in the summer months as winters can be quite cold this far north. 

3. Prague

Until recently I never would have thought much of Prague, I simply lumped the Czech Republic in with Germany and Austria. However, one of my best friends is about to move there to teach English as a second language and so I took another look at the city. It is absolutely beautiful. Looking at photos, I cannot think of a more picturesque city. Prague is filled with medieval elements, stone bridges, castles and cobblestones. It also may be the first European city that I have the chance to visit this winter! 

Check Out my Other Travel Posts Here!
Planning a Cape Cod Vacation?
My Five Favorite New England Beaches
Cheapest Ways to Fly

Reasons to Travel to Europe

For most of my life I have wanted to travel to Europe. My desire stems from studying maps and learning about history as a kid. I remember being fascinated by Greek and Roman history and learning about many various european cultures. For most of my life this remained a dream, but this winter I may finally have a chance to spend a few weeks abroad. Here are some reasons you (and I) should spend some time exploring Europe.

It's Cheaper than you Think: Round trip flights to Europe from the United States can be found for less than $800 if you plan far enough in advance. I am looking for tickets from Boston to London for December, during the holidays, and tickets are still less than $900, (about the cost of 9 nice sweaters). Once you arrive in Europe, it becomes extremely cheap to stay. According to Hostels.com/europe, many cities have hostels with great reviews for $5 - $10 per night! If you can stay for more than a week, the expensive flight can quickly be offset by room expenses.

Gain a New Perspective: Often people spend most of their lives in one country or even one small region of a country, New England in my case. While the area you live in my be comfortable and pleasant, other areas can offer extremely different experiences. Most people become accustomed to their own culture and way of life and can gain so much from learning the customs of people who live differently. This sense of discovery can foster an appreciation for diversity as well as of one's own cultural identity.

Travelling in a foreign country is a way to challenge your own perspective on life and gain new ideas. If you stay in one place for your whole life, you may not develop a full sense of happiness because you have nothing to compare it to. While travelling you may discover that you want to relocate to a new place or you may develop a newfound love for your home country or city.

Gain a Sense of Independence: Having the opportunity to travel, especially to a country where you are unfamiliar with the language, provides a pathway to becoming more independent. Being somewhere totally new will force you to think in ways you may never have thought and use skills that you may not have used before. Interacting with locals and making your way through a foreign land without help can make you proud and feel capable of accomplishing more than you thought possible of yourself.

Carpe Diem: If you are thinking about travelling, whether it be to Europe or elsewhere in the world, my advice is just to do it. Life only comes once and if you have an opportunity to go somewhere you have always wanted to go, just do it. I realized recently that when I am much older and look back on my life, I want to know that I did all of the things that I always wanted to do and so I am trying to live by my own advice. Sure, it may be expensive, but there are ways to save money. People tend to enjoy experiences more than their material belongings. Besides, who needs all of those sweaters anyways?

United States High Speed Train?

For decades the United States has been toying with the idea of building a network of high speed train routes throughout the country. This system would be similar to the one that operates in Europe. Many oppose the system because of the cost to build it; however, I feel that some of the most innovative and economically useful public projects have also come at costs that seemed high at first. Consider for example the interstate highway system. This project began in the 1950's and parts are still under construction today; it was expensive, but it helped bring the United States to a position of power among world economies.

Here is a proposed map of the train network in the United States.

Although this map is visually appealing, it may not be fully realistic. Many areas along the red and blue routes would need to be eliminated because these areas do not have the population density to support ridership. 

A network of high speed trains would serve a wonderful need in society. Trips that are between 100 and 600 miles would be ideal to make by train. These trips would be too long many people to tolerate in a car, but going through security for a flight of this distance could take as long as the flight itself. Trains would provide high speeds without needing to wait in extensive check in lines. This could revolutionize medium-distance travel in the United States, encouraging an increase in business and leisure travel, particularly in mega-regions such as the Northeast or South-Central California. 

Cheapest Ways to Fly

Since it is summertime and many people are making travel plans, I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about the ways to get the best deals on flights. Sometimes doing some extra work and being flexible can help save lots of money on airfare. Here are a list of tips that can help to plan the best flight schedules.

Book Flights for Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday

These are the days each week that have the least demand for flights. To fill flights on these days, airlines often have to make prices more attractive to travelers. Tuesday and Wednesday are expected but Saturday may be surprising. Most flights happen on Friday or Sunday; when people are taking vacations, they often wish to leave Friday and not wait until Saturday.

Shop on Tuesday

Tuesday is the day that the least people are online shopping for flights. Prices tend to rise when customers are comparing prices, even if they make no purchases. Because people tend to spend the least time shopping for tickets on Tuesdays, the prices tend to be lowest.

Shop Many Airports

Many people make the mistake of choosing a specific airport to fly out of and into. This greatly reduces the number of flights to choose from. For example, a flight out of New York City could use JFK Airport or LaGuardia. Kayak.com has a tool - add nearby airports - that allows customers to select from several different departure and arrival airports at once.

Fly From a Hub

If it is not possible to be extremely flexible, try to fly out of a major airport. Airlines operate using spoke and wheel models; many flights from small airports have layovers at large airports before rerouting to another destination. The largest hub airports tend to be located near major U.S. cities.

Fly Early or Late

The flights with the cheapest seats tend to be those that leave at the earliest times in the morning, often before the sun rises. Fewer people want to fly at this time, so flights are harder to fill. When a route offers red eye flights, they are often even cheaper.

Buy One Ticket at a Time

This can be stressful! When several people are travelling together on a flight and buy tickets in one transaction, the airline charges the the same price for each ticket. The price they charge is the most expensive ticket. Buying the same tickets separately can allow one or more of the tickets to be sold at a lower price.

These are my main tips, but the most important thing is to be diligent. But remember, travelling is supposed to be fun, so don't get too stressed out.