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Now the state railway sock puppet on LinkedIn, to me:

“I think that you systematically overestimate the difficulties by travelling by train and underestimate the complexity and total price for an airtrip.”

I’m so totally done with people in this damned industry.

My social media, my inbox full of people struggling with rail booking. But ah no. No problem. I’m actually underestimating the complexity of air trips.

in reply to Jon Worth

That actually explains a lot. No wonder (some) state railways won't bother making things easier if they don't even believe there is a problem.
in reply to Jon Worth

it would really be great if the people in charge of railways could be mandated to use public transport as their primary mode of transportation at least for a certain period of time
in reply to Jon Worth

As far as I can see you’re not overestimating but describing from practice. You can concede the point about airtrips as being not relevant to a sustainable lifestyle.
in reply to Patrick Dersjant RCX

@patrick I just described the complexity of booking a Berlin to Nuits sous Ravieres trip. How I leave more time for changes one way than another. How I can’t be sure AJC will work. How I can’t get one ticket to guarantee rights. Sure, not every passenger does this, but I do - because OUT OF EXPERIENCE I know if I don’t I can be stuck and out of pocket!
in reply to Jon Worth

I’ll share todays counterpoint with you on Saturday. It’ll reinforce your point.
in reply to Jon Worth

@patrick
We try to always take direct trains, because the more connections, the more missed connections are likely.
in reply to econads

@econads @patrick sure. But often that’s simply impossible. A rail system that makes changes a pain is a broken system.
in reply to Jon Worth

@patrick yeah sure, I meant it as an illustration of what you were saying, not "you're doing it wrong". I love train travel and try to avoid flying wherever possible, but they don't make it easy.

That said, to your original point I think a lot of people do think of flying as just airport to airport and not door to door. Still needs to be easier and cheaper. The 49€ ticket here helps a bit.

in reply to Patrick Dersjant RCX

Just watched the first part of the Riedbahn documentary. Bahn people being very self critical, at least for a marketing flick… not too bad. There may still be hope.
in reply to Jon Worth

And damn it, I’ve tested more than 800 trains in 30 countries’ railways in the past 2 years in #CrossBorderRail - thankfully mostly on Interrail that simplified a lot. I’m pretty good at this by now, *but I get stuck and confused over and over*

And this dude says I’m over-estimating the complexity? Aaaaggghhhh

in reply to Jon Worth

Komplexitätskarte des europäischen ÖVs: 85% dieser Reisen bzw. Wege wurden maximal zwei Tage vorher geplant. So sieht das dann aus. Länder, die im Sommer für die Planung des Besuches bei Verwandten zu Weihnachten werben, werden eher gemieden.
in reply to Jon Worth

to be fair, he does have to file the flight plan and do all the pre flight checks and make sure he has enough fuel, and an alternative airport for his private plane he flies...

I assume...

in reply to Jon Worth

they should try to book a flight from Berlin to Rome and try to do the same with train. Then we will know who overestimated what.
in reply to Martin Pallmann

@martinpallmann but Martin, really, no one would *ever* go that far by train! (That’s what I expect they’ll tell me)
in reply to Jon Worth

because the travel sucks. If it would be comfortable and the price would be ok, I’d live to travel by train. I hate flying. So every alternative would be amazing.
in reply to Martin Pallmann

@martinpallmann I know, I know. But sadly few in the industry give a damn. (München - Roma direct should start in 2026 with a Frecciarossa though)
in reply to Jon Worth

@martinpallmann But then you have to compare the railway booking process with taking a car. And then you are really screwed.
in reply to Martin Hoffmann

@partim @martinpallmann But getting the right insurance is hard! And finding a garage for the car's maintenance! Try harder!
in reply to Jon Worth

I bought my first plane ticket last week. Not because it would be impossible to take train but it would be nearly impossible and I just don't want to deal with it. Czech Republic to Spain with bike, when I looked in to it France is the main issue and uncertainty with connections.
in reply to Jon Worth

the trouble with arguing with people who are paid to have certain opinions is that you're not really arguing with someone who has an opinion, you're arguing with someone who has a job description

Jon Worth reshared this.

in reply to Oliver Blanthorn

@bovine3dom the problem however is there are so many of them! IT departments of railways employ a lot of people!
in reply to Jon Worth

i find that people tend to disappear when you put the burden of proof on them

Asking "how many real-world examples do you have?" is far quicker than trying to disprove something yourself

but I do imagine it's exhausting for you. Your replies on Bluesky are bad enough so I hate to think what they're like on LinkedIn.

You need an army of interns at the Jon Worth Institute to handle them all for you