I'm taking surface public transport from New England to Bloomington IN to attend the north American forest ecology workshop this summer -- mainly for personal economy but also inspired by some of the posts to this thread. The reality is unappealing despite the 50% savings - 24 hr+ in transit each way, plus the better part of a day spent planning a complicated outbound leg. It's not the time on the road or rail that so bad, it's the infrequent and challengingly timed arrivals/departures and frequent stops/transfers along the way. This could easily change, though, if there were more demand for low-carbon transportation in this country.
Here's my modest proposal: climate change funding from NSF, DOE, USDA and their ilk should only fund meeting travel at the surface public transportation rates. That would send a clearer message of serious intent than all the hand-wringing conclusion paragraphs that will be written this year. See you on the bus -Seth
