To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls

Re:To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls by martinald on Tuesday March 07, 2017 @04:34PM (#13815152)

1) is completely false. If you have a entirely full airport at peak like LAX, JFK or LHR, how do you add more flights? The marginal cost of more flights is another runway or terminal building, which is (tens) of billions of dollars.

The same problem exists within electricial grids. Providing 'peaker' plants which are only used 5% of the time are incredible expensive. cf how expensive electricity got in california when Enron shut these plans down intentionally in summer.

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Re:To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls by twentythree on Tuesday March 07, 2017 @04:58PM (#13815420)

Demand response [0] is an interesting solution to the electrical grid problem; utilities will pay customers (usually large commercial customers) to use less energy during periods of peak demand (which allows the utility to build fewer plants, so everybody wins).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_response

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Re:To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls by DrScump on Tuesday March 07, 2017 @06:02PM (#13816017)

You can add capacity without adding flights by using larger planes. Airlines use the smallest plane they can for a route to minimize cost.

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Re:To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls by martinald on Tuesday March 07, 2017 @06:25PM (#13816243)

Not really. Firstly, planes need to be spaced after takeoff more if they are larger (eg a A380 will require more spacing than a 747). This cuts the capacity gain somewhat.

Secondly, not all gates can take larger aircraft.

Thirdly, larger aircraft take a lot more time to turn around than smaller ones (fewer doors per passenger). Which means your gates are tied up for longer.

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