Regular Passenger Service From San Jose to Sacramento?

Is there any small airline that is running regular passenger service between
San Jose and Sacramento? What about any city in the Bay Area and
Sacramento? There was an outfit out of Mather that was supposed to be
doing this with a Cessna Caravan, but their web site appears mostly
abandoned and no one answers their phone, so I guess they folded.

I just can't believe that no one can make the economics of this work at
$150/passenger using something economical to fly like a Caravan.

--
Will
westes AT earthbroadcast.com

You can leave your house in San Jose and be at your destination in
Sacramento faster by car than you can by going to the airport, arriving
early for security, standing in line, finally flying the short flight, then
driving back into Sacramento. Probably the same for almost any trip under
say 300 miles.
"CHANGE USERNAME TO westes" wrote in
message ...
Is there any small airline that is running regular passenger service
between
San Jose and Sacramento? What about any city in the Bay Area and
Sacramento? There was an outfit out of Mather that was supposed to be
doing this with a Cessna Caravan, but their web site appears mostly
abandoned and no one answers their phone, so I guess they folded.

I just can't believe that no one can make the economics of this work at
$150/passenger using something economical to fly like a Caravan.

--
Will
westes AT earthbroadcast.com

"Franklin Newton" wrote in message
nk.net...
You can leave your house in San Jose and be at your destination in
Sacramento faster by car than you can by going to the airport, arriving
early for security, standing in line, finally flying the short flight,
then
driving back into Sacramento. Probably the same for almost any trip under
say 300 miles.

Even assuming your time estimate is valid, it doesn't preclude a viable
airline route.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have airline service between Portland and
Seattle (~200 miles), Vancouver BC and Seattle (~150 miles), Bellingham and
Seattle (~100 miles), just to name a few. I won't even bother to mention
the numerous cross-water routes that are short (30 minute flights, or
shorter) but viable because of the lines at the ferries, and the time the
ferries take.

Pete

I've had that trip by car take as little as two and one half hours and as
long as five hours. The traffic out of the Bay Area in commute hours and
around Sacramento can be a parking lot.

If someone is running passenger service with a Caravan, the odds are that
they are probably also running charter operations, and those typically leave
from the private pilot's side of the airport. The delays are typically
much less. 30 minutes delay either side for boarding, 60 minutes flying
(Caravans only do about 140 knots), gives about 90 minutes total one way.
If I could get a reliable 90 minutes at $150, I would do it. I would feel
better than on the trips by car that take two and one half hours, and I
would be feeling a whole lot better than the trips that take five hours.

--
Will
westes AT earthbroadcast.com


"Franklin Newton" wrote in message
nk.net...
You can leave your house in San Jose and be at your destination in
Sacramento faster by car than you can by going to the airport, arriving
early for security, standing in line, finally flying the short flight,
then
driving back into Sacramento. Probably the same for almost any trip under
say 300 miles.
"CHANGE USERNAME TO westes" wrote in
message ...
Is there any small airline that is running regular passenger service
between
San Jose and Sacramento? What about any city in the Bay Area and
Sacramento? There was an outfit out of Mather that was supposed to be
doing this with a Cessna Caravan, but their web site appears mostly
abandoned and no one answers their phone, so I guess they folded.

I just can't believe that no one can make the economics of this work at
$150/passenger using something economical to fly like a Caravan.

--
Will
westes AT earthbroadcast.com

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:12:46 -0800, CHANGE USERNAME TO westes wrote:

I would feel
better than on the trips by car that take two and one half hours, and I
would be feeling a whole lot better than the trips that take five hours.

don't you have any reasonable public transportation? I thought there is a
train going along the coast connecting major cities (?).

#m

--
The policy of the American government is to leave its citizens free,
neither restraining them nor aiding them in their pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson

Sure, as long as you don't mind spending six hours making the trip that's an
option. The train has lots of stops and one major stopover and switch of
trains.

I'm looking for a way to shorten the trip.

--
Will
westes AT earthbroadcast.com

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:12:46 -0800, CHANGE USERNAME TO westes wrote:

I would feel
better than on the trips by car that take two and one half hours, and I
would be feeling a whole lot better than the trips that take five hours.

don't you have any reasonable public transportation? I thought there is a
train going along the coast connecting major cities (?).

#m

--
The policy of the American government is to leave its citizens free,
neither restraining them nor aiding them in their pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 14:03:25 -0800, "CHANGE USERNAME TO westes"
wrote:

Is there any small airline that is running regular passenger service between
San Jose and Sacramento? What about any city in the Bay Area and
Sacramento? There was an outfit out of Mather that was supposed to be
doing this with a Cessna Caravan, but their web site appears mostly
abandoned and no one answers their phone, so I guess they folded.

I just can't believe that no one can make the economics of this work at
$150/passenger using something economical to fly like a Caravan.

The airline is called Amtrak. There are 12 flights a day each way
between San Jose and Sacto. The flight lasts 3:15 and costs $51 round
trip. You can carry a machete and don't have to take off your shoes
unless you want to.

Don

Even using your figure of 3:15, that isn't as fast as 1:30, and I'm just
surprised that no small commuter airline cannot find enough passengers to
make it work.

--
Will
westes AT earthbroadcast.com


"Don Tuite" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 14:03:25 -0800, "CHANGE USERNAME TO westes"
wrote:

Is there any small airline that is running regular passenger service
between
San Jose and Sacramento? What about any city in the Bay Area and
Sacramento? There was an outfit out of Mather that was supposed to be
doing this with a Cessna Caravan, but their web site appears mostly
abandoned and no one answers their phone, so I guess they folded.

I just can't believe that no one can make the economics of this work at
$150/passenger using something economical to fly like a Caravan.

The airline is called Amtrak. There are 12 flights a day each way
between San Jose and Sacto. The flight lasts 3:15 and costs $51 round
trip. You can carry a machete and don't have to take off your shoes
unless you want to.

Don

Even using your figure of 3:15, that isn't as fast as 1:30, and I'm just
surprised that no small commuter airline cannot find enough passengers to
make it work.
The airline is called Amtrak. There are 12 flights a day each way
between San Jose and Sacto. The flight lasts 3:15 and costs $51 round
trip. You can carry a machete and don't have to take off your shoes
unless you want to.

Speaking of useless projects and bullet trains...well, we are now.

You wanna see why our country is so @#$@!! up? Here's why. Nothing
to do with Red or Blue states.

As one responder mentioned, Amtrak provides a great service between
the Bay Area (San Jose/Oakland/Berkeley) and Sacramento. A guy that
works for me commutes twice a week from the Berkeley station to
downtown Sacto. But, it is somewhat slow as another responder
mentioned. Also it is unreliable, because about once a month
something happens to make my guy come in an hour or two late. The
problem is Amtrak "rents" the tracks from Union Pacific or whoever,
which runs freight and doesn't give a damn about Amtrak service.

So it's an ideal route to run some kind of high-speed, dedicated track
passenger service, i.e. bullet train. The demand is clearly there and
the alternate transpo is basically a car, which as yet other
responders pointed out is very problematical.

So what train service is being promoted for California, with no
discussion whatsoever? A friggin' bullet train between North and
South California! Where did this come from??? I haven't seen any kind
of cost comparison between this proposed boondoggle and other forms of
transpo improvement, like adding another lane to I5 (mostly two lanes
now), or upgrading Hwy. 99, or improving airports in the North and
South, or anything else. In fact nobody's said why transpo between
the two regions is so desparately bad that it needs a $20-$30 Billion
Dollar project like this! The transpo that is screwed up just about
everywhere in California is local, not regional. And the two regions
that can really use an improvement, Bay Area/Sacto, are not getting
it.

On 21 Nov 2004 20:57:09 -0800, Bob Fry
wrote:


Speaking of useless projects and bullet trains...well, we are now.

Last June, I tooks the Amtrak whatchamacallit from Penn Sta in NYC to
the Rte 128 stop near Boston. About the same time as the EWR/BOS
shuttle and half the cost. Some tracks were leased, some were
Amtrak's. Travel on the leased tracks was sucky, but it looked like
we were doing 90 on the Amtrak tracks. I think Amtrak is acquiring
more right-of -way along the corridor.

I'll leave it to somebody else to tell me whether Amtrak or the
airlines are more heavily subsidized. I will acknowledge that the US
government has filled the pockets of thieves with more money than
Midas dreamed of since the days of Crockett, Stanford, Gould, etc.

The SF/LA bullet is stupid because LA isn't a place with a center.
It's bigger than half the countries in Europe. And there isn't
anyplace in the Central Valley that isn't served better by the Hound.

To stay somewhat on-topic, Southwest provides fast, cheap, regular,
reliable service between SF and the LA satellite airports, including
Phoenix and San Diego.

Don (Also pleased with SW on the Oakland/MIdway hop last week.)