Comments on: airport security pass needs clarification

By: Capricious Commuter

Capricious Commuter — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:15:50 +0000

Sorry, Amtrak Rider, I was on vacation when you posted your comment and I’ve been swamped this week. The address is enelson@bayareanewsgroup.com.

By: Regular Amtrak Rider

Regular Amtrak Rider — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:07:54 +0000

CC: How do I e-mail you?

By: Reedman

Reedman — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:12:23 +0000

If I remember correctly, the CLEAR program was supposed to be run by the TSA, but the TSA got buried in implementing the basic screening (especially after the Richard Reid episode) and TSA proposed/agreed to turn the idea over to private industry.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:03:06 +0000

It’s $100 per year. The CLEAR program provides some of the staff, although there are still TSA people once you merge into the regular line. It’s really mostly queue jumping at this point, although there is hope it will mean the end of shoe removal and the like.

I use a similar program to enter Canada. I can save an hour or more when the immigration lines are backed up. A quick Iris scan, a few questions and I am on my way to baggage and the customs exit.

By: David

David — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:03:27 +0000

The short article about this in the Tribune says $100 a year, while this blog post says $100 a month. That’s a big difference! If it’s $100 a year, that obviously reduces some of the concern I expressed in my last comment.

By: David

David — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:21:41 +0000

The media probably loves CLEAR partly because the media loves Steve Brill.

No one doesn’t like the service? What about all the people waiting in long lines who don’t have the disposable income to shell out $100 a month? Are TSA employees manning the CLEAR lines? If so, then it sounds like devoting staff and space to the CLEAR lines must reduce the staff and space available to everyone else, causing second-class citizens to have to wait even longer. That’s the only reservation I have about this kind of service. It’s one thing for private companies to offer luxury service to the wealthy, but should our government be doing it?

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:08:16 +0000

And actually, now that I think about it, “CLEAR” is basically a “Lexus Lane” for the airport. It’s the same check everyone else gets, but you pay a little extra to have it go faster.

That said, I’ve got no problem with the idea of Lexus Lanes. (Indeed, here in California we’ve basically got them already–although it’s more of a Prius Passage.)

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:06:53 +0000

Of course, this begs the question of A: just how low is the TSA’s funding, that it doesn’t already work this way, and B: why, if shoe-scanners are permissible, we don’t have them already.

PS Where’s that metering lights story going to be? Personally I think that metering lights aren’t the source of the problem, but I can’t deny that they do have a positive effect on traffic flow.

The source of the problem, of course, is the fact that California flat damn refuses to teach highway-driving skills. As a result you have people tailgating at 15 miles an hour next to an on-ramp; therefore anyone who wants to merge has to brake, which–of course!–sets the meathead behind him to braking, and so on and so forth until there’s a massive traffic jam for no reason.

(Caltrans’s prediliction for the “weave merge” doesn’t help matters.)

Unfortunately, there’s no way to really enforce spacing between cars. Any solution will be massively technological, and easily subverted just by defeating (damaging, altering, or simply removing) the installation.

(For example, a proximeter in the front of the car that links to a central database; if you’re less than 30 yards from the car in front, you pay $1 per minute. If you’re less than 10 yards from the car in front it’s $3 per minute. Sounds good, but the obvious solution is to just point the proximeter straight up…)