Daylight Saving Time

[KmH]

The State of Florida has started the ball rolling to get rid of the Spring and Fall time change in Florida. They want to permanently stay in EDT or in the Atlantic Time Zone.

A Federal law needs changing to have that take effect. Expect a bill in the next Congress to make it happen. The Florida State Legislature overwhelmingly passed the motion to do so, and Governor Scott is expected to sign on.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/us/florida-year-round-daylight-saving-time-trnd/index.html

some Floridians are NOT happy about this.

Some anywhere would not be happy for DST to go away.

It has been shown by many different types of studies that DST causes more problems than it solves, and doesn't save any power. Get rid of it.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The State of Florida has started the ball rolling to get rid of the Spring and Fall time change in Florida. They want to permanently stay in EDT or in the Atlantic Time Zone.

A Federal law needs changing to have that take effect. Expect a bill in the next Congress to make it happen. The Florida State Legislature overwhelmingly passed the motion to do so, and Governor Scott is expected to sign on.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/us/florida-year-round-daylight-saving-time-trnd/index.html

some Floridians are NOT happy about this.

Some anywhere would not be happy for DST to go away. It has been shown by many different types of studies that DST causes more problems than it solves, and doesn't save any power. Get rid of it.

The studies point in both directions depending on which aspects you're attempt to quantify. With regard to energy consumption, if you remove the changing of time and simply compare permanent daylight savings time to permanent standard time daylight savings time wins by 1-2 percentage points. Which may not sound like a lot, but in the case of the world's least efficient industrialized democracy a few percentage points is a huge variance in terms of megawatts generated.

 

[fairviewroad]

This year, 2018, Amtrak solved the problem of the missing hour. Starting at 2.01 a.m. on 3/11/2018, it actually adjusted the schedule by adding an hour to all the remaining station stops, for that particular train.

Essentially they are following the pattern that airlines have been using for years (decades?). For example, a red-eye flight that leaves SFO every night at 11 p.m. and arrives into JFK at 7 a.m. will simply be scheduled to arrive into JFK at 8 a.m. on the night that clocks move forward. They don't make the flight an hour late...they simple adjust the arrival time. Of course, it's a lot easier to do that with a flight that has only one arrival time, versus a train that may have 15+ stops to make after the time change.

 

[west point]

So if Pensacola goes along with this change you will have a 2 hour difference between Pensacola / Panama City and Dothan / Mobile. and if in winter 2 hours difference if all Florida went to same time EDT in winter ? Does this sound like Russia to anyone ?

 

[jis]

Pensacola will remain in CDT (i.e. EST) all year according to what passed in the Florida legislature. Florida will still have two time zones. They will just be perpetually in daylight time.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[JRR]

Pensacola will remain in CDT (i.e. EST) all year according to what passed in the Florida legislature. Florida will still have two time zones. They will just be perpetually in daylight time.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[JRR]

Correct. People always forget about the Panhandle. We have always had two time zones. Now they will both be always in daylight savings time if Congress acts.

While I personally like Daylight Savings Time, I understand why some people don’t.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Atlantic Time Zone is used all year round in Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, most of the Eastern Caribbean Islands and Quebec East of 63 deg West Lon.

The Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and most of Labrador are also on Atlantic Time.

We will move to Atlantic Daylight Time this weekend.....so we will still be an hour ahead of Eastern Daylight at the Maine-New Brunswick border.

A little further east.....the Island of Newfoundland has one of those unique half-hour time zones and is a half-hour ahead of Atlantic Time.

 

[Lonestar648]

Last year when Texas and Michigan considered eliminating the time changes, they found that Federal Law prohibits staying on DST all the time, so the lawmakers found their option was to eliminate DST, staying on Standard Time all year, or make no changes. Since the majority of both states houses wanted DST all year, both efforts were tabled and died.

 

[Ryan]

I don’t have strong feelings over Standard vs Daylight Saving time, but the change between them twice a year is a pain in the neck. Pick one and stick with it.

While we’re at it, expand the Central time zone to cover the whole East coast, and the Mountain to cover the west. All of CONUS in two time zones an hour apart.

 

[jis]

Federal law has to be changed to make such a change. Nothing new there. Most news articles reporting this have said so too. The two states didn’t bother to try to change the federal law in question. It has been changed in the past. It can be done again should Congress and the President decide to do so.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[Bob Dylan]

I dont have strong feelings over Standard vs Daylight Saving time, but the change between them twice a year is a pain in the neck. Pick one and stick with it.

While were at it, expand the Central time zone to cover the whole East coast, and the Mountain to cover the west. All of CONUS in two time zones an hour apart.

This!!!

 

[daybeers]

I don’t have strong feelings over Standard vs Daylight Saving time, but the change between them twice a year is a pain in the neck. Pick one and stick with it.

While we’re at it, expand the Central time zone to cover the whole East coast, and the Mountain to cover the west. All of CONUS in two time zones an hour apart.

Only one hour apart? Besides being less confusing, how is that better than the three hour difference that exists now? Please bear in mind I don't know too much about the specifics of time zones.

 

[zephyr17]

Better yet, do what the Russian railroads do. 11 timezones? No way. Just 1.

Clock says 5 am and the sun is directly overhead, high noon? No problem!

 

[Ryan]

I don’t have strong feelings over Standard vs Daylight Saving time, but the change between them twice a year is a pain in the neck. Pick one and stick with it.

While we’re at it, expand the Central time zone to cover the whole East coast, and the Mountain to cover the west. All of CONUS in two time zones an hour apart.

Only one hour apart? Besides being less confusing, how is that better than the three hour difference that exists now? Please bear in mind I don't know too much about the specifics of time zones.

Easier for business. Right now, I can't start a meeting with my folks in San Diego before 10:00 or so, unless I'm going to ask them to dial in from home or wake up ridiculously early.

I'm rolling out of the office when it's lunchtime out there. If they need something during the afternoon, I'm gone (in reality, I'm checking my emails and taking occasional calls until after dinner).

Also significantly easier when traveling - while a 3 hour time difference isn't too crushing, an hour is much easier to deal with.

 

[west point]

You

I don’t have strong feelings over Standard vs Daylight Saving time, but the change between them twice a year is a pain in the neck. Pick one and stick with it.

While we’re at it, expand the Central time zone to cover the whole East coast, and the Mountain to cover the west. All of CONUS in two time zones an hour apart.

You have it wrong. Before WW-2 the central time zone extended into some of the Carolinas as well as all of Tennessee. Parts of Georgia were as well. So don't expect to go backwards !

 

[Ryan]

What exactly do you think that I have wrong? I didn’t say anything about what time zones were before.

 

[SarahZ]

I will never forget a customer who refused to believe me when I said I was in the Eastern time zone.

"Michigan is in Central time."

"Just a small part of the upper peninsula, ma'am. The rest of the state is on Eastern time."

"No. You're on Central time."

"Well, I live here, so I'm fairly positive I know what time zone I'm in."

That said, I do wish Michigan was on Central time. I found a map once that shows where the Eastern/Central time zone break really should be, and we were well within it. We end up with some pretty goofy sunrise/sunset times because we're in the "wrong" zone.

 

[JRR]

My senior year in high school, I was a delegate to Kentucky Boy’s State in Frankfort, Ky.

The Legislature was debating the question of time zones with the thought of putting the whole state in one time zone.

The Western part of the state was on CST and the Eastern part on EST.

The debate was so heated so that for the period that we were there, the Capitol buildings were officially on Rocky Mountain Standard Time while the City was on EST.

It made schedules of meetings and events quite challenging because the time depended upon which building or location the event was located.

It appears that the subject of times zones remains something we still have difficulty in agreeing upon!.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[TinCan782]

Some minutiae... apparently its daylight saving time as in the topic title...

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is often wrongly referred to as “Daylight Savings,” with an “s” at the end.

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/daylight-savings-time.html