Senate Unanimously Approves Making Daylight Savings Time Permanent

It took a while, but it looks like there's finally something that everyone in Congress can agree on.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/598 ... -permanent

(Sen. Marco) Rubio urged the House to quickly take up the measure and pass it.

He also noted that it would not take effect until next year.
“I think it is important to delay it until Nov. 20, 2023, because airlines and other transportation has built out a schedule and they asked for a few months to make the adjustment,” he said.

It might unite Congress but def not people.

I know a lot of people who are furious about this. They are morning people and would love to keep Standard Time all year. They go to bed by 8pm or so and don't benefit from the extra evening daylight.

Then there are people who are evening people and would be furious at the idea of 4:30am sunrises in the summertime.

I'm sure they'll figure out how adjust, just as the majority of us who despise the time change have had to do.

eolesen wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 7:01 pm I'm sure they'll figure out how adjust, just as the majority of us who despise the time change have had to do.

Wait, does that mean there will be permanent American standard time?

Remember this experiment is not the first time. Happened in the 1970s. Only lasted one year and the disdain for it scratched the whole experiment.

It takes both houses, not just the Senate. Plus the president. This is one of the few things most senators could agree on.

Year-round Daylight Saving will probably frequire some changes in Time Zones, such as to avoid 9:15 AM sunrises in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, etc. I would prefer year-round Standard Time. If you want sunny summer evenings, run your business from 8 to 4, rather than 9 to 5.

Everyone: Interesting topic about making year-round Daylight Saving Time permanent...
This subject is one of the best examples of not being able to please everyone all of the time because
there has been traditionally sharp disagreements on how to administer time/time zones in the USA...

A good overview of the subject can be found on this Wikipedia page about DST in the USA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_ ... ted_States

I think that the current 8/4 split between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time was and IS the right way
to observe time in the USA...Year round DST has its detractors and some distinct disadvantages...
I am NOT a fan of year-round Standard Time - DST in the Spring and Summer is the way to go...

The one-season experiment to observe year-round DST was the winter of 1973 into 1974 - now 48 years ago...
I was middle-school aged then and remember my parents mentioning that they were using even more energy
during the shortest days of winter in the mornings with the DST change - and being that it was unpopular there
was no surprise that President (at the time) Gerald R. Ford signed the bill to repeal the change in late 1974.

I remember one not-mentioned reason that Arizona does not observe Mountain Daylight Time is that most of
AZ wanted to be aligned time-wise with neighboring California and Nevada in Pacific Time. I learned this on one
of my previous visits to AZ back during the 90s on my own inquiry...

FR: I agree year-round DST has its distinct disadvantages - especially for the westernmost states in each time zone.
I recall a (small to mid-size) business owner that I once had dealings with mentioning during a conversation that
the USA "has an obsession with the traditional 9AM to 5PM work day"...A change to an 8AM to 4PM work day to
replace the "traditional" 9 to 5 (makes me think of the Dolly Parton song) will probably NEVER happen...This
could generate even MORE disagreement for how to observe time/time zones in the USA than is necessary...

MACTRAXX

I have a question here.

What does this have to do with trains?

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:37 am I have a question here.

What does this have to do with trains?

Not much. The only thing that comes to mind is that at time change, Amtrak trains instantly become an hour late or hour early. In the latter case, Amtrak will hold the train at the station until the departure time.

The entire concept of time zones came from the railroads...

If you can find an Official Guide for a summer month in the 1930's or thereabouts, look in the front for a section called CITIES AND TOWNS OBSERVING "DAYLIGHT SAVING" TIME (the quotation marks indicating the unofficial status of the term) and note that New England observed DST throughout while New York and Pennsylvania were a patchwork and many states observed DST only in major cities while the rest of the state, often including the capital, remained on Standard. In California the SP shifted intrastate trains one hour on Standard Time to preserve the traditional local times while transcontinentals remained on Standard year-round, with the result that in the summer the Lark departed at 9.00 pm PDT and the Sunset (and ATSF's Super Chief) left at 8.00 pm PST, providing three simultaneous departures from LAUPT; an impressive sight, but it only happened in the summer months.

The Solid South remained on Standard Time, impelling the PRR to issue its Form 55 (New York and. the South) with three lines devoted to Washington: the arrival from New York in Daylight, then the same time in Standard in italics, then the departure time and the rest of the schedule in Standard. Then, come fall, the whole thing had to be reset.

All in all, the reissuing of timetables twice a year, often involving only changing the hour figures, but for every train in the schedule, was a chronic pain.

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 6:48 pm The entire concept of time zones came from the railroads...

Time zones yes, daylight savings time, no.

Writing the CTA schedule bulletins reflecting the spring forward and fall back time changes is a chore I'm looking forward to being rid of. It's not difficult per se, just tedious; but thankfully it only affects Blue & Red, the only 24 hour lines on the system.

From what I've been reading, the House likely won't be in a hurry to pass it even though I'm still amazed it sailed through the Senate like it did. Guess everyone in that chamber at least likes the sunshine...

Apparently some Senators on both sides of the aisle were caught off guard that this was being presented for unanimous consent, and blamed their staffers for not telling tell them what it was all about...