Thread by @jonworth

If you're one of those people whining at me "I'm not going to sit 4 hours on a train, I'll fly 1 hour instead", then listen up

A worked example, for Berlin-München

From where I used to live at Yorckstrasse, Berlin, to when my old friend @ronpatz used to work at Uni München

🧵

Buses have been eliminated here - these are just train/S-Bahn/U-Bahn options

My fastest connection is 4 hours 35 mins

3 hours 56 mins of that is on one direct train, that has wifi and a restaurant on board

If I don't manage to get one of the extra fast "Sprinter" ICEs, I have a regular ICE that makes more stops at other times of the day, and at least 1 train per hour - trip time is slightly longer 4 hours 55 mins, of which 4 hours 23 is in the ICE

What about flying?

I'd have to get from Yorckstrasse to Berlin-Brandenburg Airport first - takes between 44 and 49 mins, depending on the exact route

Then add on 60 mins check in time (yes it's 40 mins, but I am not going to cut it that tight!)

Then a flight time of 1 hour 10 mins

So 2 hours 54 mins so far

I am then going to need 15 mins to get out of the airport and to the airport station, and then 45 mins in the S-Bahn into the city

That gives me a total time of 3 hours 54 minutes *if everything joins up perfectly*

Of that 1 hour 10 minutes I am going to be sat in the plane, and could work

In other words: my total trip time is 41 mins quicker if I go by plane, but I can use more than 3 hours of the time productively if I take the train, versus 1 hour productively if I fly

In that situation taking the train rather than the plane makes sense

Now if I did this comparison for a longer route - Hamburg-München for example - it does not make sense

There the train is 6 hours, rather than the 4 from Berlin. And the flight no longer. Most people would struggle to make the case

/ends