THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF ROAD SOCIALISM?

Waiting in line is a feature of socialism, and regular readers know it.  "Why should road socialism be different from any other socialism?"  Where there is socialism, though, there are people who attempt to escape from its aggravations.

The late Kobe Bryant and his party might well be among those people.

During his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, it was common for Bryant to travel by helicopter from his Orange County, California, home to Lakers games at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. It helped him avoid two-hour travel times through L.A.’s notorious traffic while also keeping his body fresh.

“It’s a nice dash of glitz, a touch of showbiz that goes well with the Hollywood sign in the hazy distance,” J.R. Moehringer wrote for GQ magazine in 2010. “But sexy as it might seem, Bryant says the helicopter is just another tool for maintaining his body. It’s no different than his weights or his whirlpool tubs or his custom-made Nikes. Given his broken finger, his fragile knees, his sore back and achy feet, not to mention his chronic agita, Bryant can’t sit in a car for two hours.”

He was a regular enough user of the helicopter that it was marked in such a way as to suggest it was his, or at least that he endorsed the operator.

The helicopter also made it easier for him to get to family events above the aggravation of traffic.

In an interview with Alex Rodriguez and Big Cat in December 2018, Bryant said using the chopper was his solution to being able to attend training as well as spend time with his family.

“I had to figure out a way where I could still train and focus on the craft but still not compromise family time,” he said.

Apparently the use of private helicopters to avoid traffic is a thing, but still relatively uncommon.

There's probably a transportation research question here, something along the lines of high occupancy toll lanes and congestion pricing being more cost-effective at alleviating road congestion than helicopter charters.