The 5 stops on Caltrain between SFO and SJC is disingenuous.
Assuming starting at SFO, you need to take BART to Millbrae and then Caltrain to Santa Clara and then a bus to SJC. The whole thing would take like 1hr45min if you timed a baby bullet express train perfectly.
But yeah if drove or hired a driver you could get there in 40 min depending on traffic.
Because the passengers don’t know where the aircraft is.
So for instance Musk might say “Gwynne Shotwell needs to fly to Austin on my jet on July 1.” Shotwell says “I’ll fly out of XXX airport”. Then in June, Musk flies to YYY airport.
They aren’t going to call Shotwell before her flight and say, “Turns out the plane just landed very close to you. Do you mind flying out of YYY instead to save us some fuel?” They simply reposition the plane.
It’s justified because this is how professional pilots are expected to operate.
For that matter, it’s also how car-sharing is expected to operate. Imagine you took an Uber to your hotel, and the driver said “Hey, my next fare is two blocks from your hotel. So how about I drop you off there, it’s just a five minute walk the rest of the way. Plus, it would save me from driving with no passenger for a few minutes, thus wasting fuel.”
I think the vast majority of us would consider this unprofessional and respond, “No thanks, drive me all the way to my hotel”. Which is why Uber drivers don’t actually discuss their next fare with their current passenger.
Why can’t they just use CalTrans to get to the original airport since it’s only five stops between the two and far less polluting?
The 5 stops on Caltrain between SFO and SJC is disingenuous. Assuming starting at SFO, you need to take BART to Millbrae and then Caltrain to Santa Clara and then a bus to SJC. The whole thing would take like 1hr45min if you timed a baby bullet express train perfectly. But yeah if drove or hired a driver you could get there in 40 min depending on traffic.
Because the passengers don’t know where the aircraft is.
So for instance Musk might say “Gwynne Shotwell needs to fly to Austin on my jet on July 1.” Shotwell says “I’ll fly out of XXX airport”. Then in June, Musk flies to YYY airport.
They aren’t going to call Shotwell before her flight and say, “Turns out the plane just landed very close to you. Do you mind flying out of YYY instead to save us some fuel?” They simply reposition the plane.
So in other words, it’s to be convenient to Elon and his cohorts. Which is what I said earlier. I’m not sure why you think that’s justifiable.
It’s justified because this is how professional pilots are expected to operate.
For that matter, it’s also how car-sharing is expected to operate. Imagine you took an Uber to your hotel, and the driver said “Hey, my next fare is two blocks from your hotel. So how about I drop you off there, it’s just a five minute walk the rest of the way. Plus, it would save me from driving with no passenger for a few minutes, thus wasting fuel.”
I think the vast majority of us would consider this unprofessional and respond, “No thanks, drive me all the way to my hotel”. Which is why Uber drivers don’t actually discuss their next fare with their current passenger.