IP: Wired News: Y2K Spells One Big Traffic Jam

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

More dismal piece news on the Y2K front:


For full story go to:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/14959.html


                           Y2K Spells One Big Traffic Jam by Spencer E. Ante (seante@earthlink.net)


4:00am  11.Sep.98.PDT 


In the first Senate committee hearing to discuss the millennium bug's impact on the nation's airports, railways, waterways, and roadways, the consensus on Thursday was that major disruption of US transportation was inevitable.


"I am concerned that the transportation sector as a whole may not be able to transition through the millennium without major disruptions," said Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah), chairman of the Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem. The disruptions could occur when the date flips over to 1 January 2000. Computers, programmed to recognize only the last two digits, may read the date as 1900, which could trigger errors and crashes.


Bennett went on to warn that the "interdependencies of these companies with their partners and suppliers -- both foreign and domestic -- make the transportation sector extremely complex and, thus, make the Year 2000 issues difficult to address."


The committee expressed concern that the ground-based information systems supporting air travel would not be ready in time. It also said that failure to repair critical systems such as aircraft maintenance, passenger ticketing, and reservation systems could result in reduced capacity, flight delays, and cancellations.


Transportation experts, however, downplayed the committee's talk of an impending crisis. Tom Browne, executive director of the Air Transport Association, a trade group representing 28 major airlines, including American, United, and Northwest, said that flight safety is not at risk.


"We're going to have some problems," admitted Browne, who compared Y2K's impact to that of a blizzard, but "my prediction is that they'll be minor annoyances."


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