Have We Learned Anything?

Commuter traffic continues to be a challenge no matter what your perspective is.  In Fort Smith NWT, the noon hour and post five PM rush minutes are equally frustrating to those affected than the 101 outside San Jose, almost anytime of the day.  And everyone tries to find a way for them to accommodate and survive such frustrations.  And a common theme of the manner in which such circumstances are managed varies widely.  And for many it comes to value.  Value of their time.  Value of their image.  Whatever perceived value they may gain.  So with interest, I read this morning of the resumption of helicopter service between New Jersey and Manhattan.  $200/day.  20 minute flight.  Seems there are an accumulating number of people that see "avoiding" hours of boring and time devpouring commute as "worth" that cost.  It's all relative.  Will the adoption of that cost be reflected in a commensurate increase in that individual's or collective's productivity?  How broadly do you measure the cost and value generated?  How to do incorporate the gain(loss) value of the emotional-psychological-physical-spiritual aspects?  Father has an opportunity to be at home with the kids when they come home from school?  Or maybe that's just too ideal and just doesn't happen anymore - though I still pick my kids up from school every day I can - which is most.  The reality is that for anyone that calls 7 figures an annual income - $200/day does not even register.  

Have we not registered the last 24 months of financial near-Armageddon - the value of a better understanding to how the world really works - or am I truly just fooling myself, the "incentives" that drive our collective behaviour are too strong for consciousness.  Everyone is jumping back on the treadmill, and carrying on their merry way.  I don't think this is a good sign at all.

New York Helicopter Commute for $200 a Day Signals Revival

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By Esmé E. Deprez

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Liberty Helicopters Inc. is offering to fly weary commuters from New Jersey to Manhattan for about $200 a day, saving them 14 hours in traffic a week and signaling that Wall Street may have seen the worst of the recession.

As many as six people at a time will travel above the Statue of Liberty, Governors Island and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge during the trip of about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Port Monmouth, New Jersey, to landing pads at West 30th Street and Pier 6 near Wall Street. Weekend service starts tonight and weekday runs begin next month.

Liberty has already been approached by 150 potential clients after about a month of advertising, Patrick Day, a pilot and vice president of charter marketing, said in an interview in the cabin of a twin-engine Dauphin at the carrier’s base in Linden, New Jersey. The interest may reflect how far Wall Street has bounced back, said Robert Grotell, an independent transportation consultant in Port Jefferson, New York.

“When an economy turns sour, corporate air transportation seems to be one of the first things that’s affected, and it’s usually one of the last things to come back,” Grotell said in a telephone interview. Corporate clients are responsible for about one-third of helicopter traffic in the New York area, which slid as much as 30 percent in 2009 from a year earlier, he said.

“Maybe the economic turnaround is well under way,” Grotell said.

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