Looks like NL might be getting something similar to the Deutschland ticket.
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@quixoticgeek @Tubemeister you can drive a completely empty bus given that the general utilization of the line or network is large enough. Also the Netherlands don't have low population density. There are relatively low density areas where the network might cost more per passenger, but you need to serve those places for the robustness of the network. That directly conflicts with the drive towards efficiency.
But having everybody be their own personal transport driver is not efficient either
@meeoo @quixoticgeek Also, it's low density enough once you get outside of the cities. Sure it could be lower still, but it's low enough that making public transport run past "possible" into "convenient enough" is not practical in the current understanding of the term.
The thing is that these musings tend to easily tip over into "all cars must go" type absolutism, and they are just too damn useful to not have them at all.
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@Tubemeister @meeoo so what do we need to do to provide a train option there ?
@quixoticgeek @meeoo Somehow run a train service between two minor cities separated by a military shooting range and a national park.
Which I still wouldn't take, because that hour of door to door will be spent entirely on the last few miles getting to/from the station with no time left for the actual train.
That's just the reality of public transport. With few exceptions, it runs from where you aren't to where you don't want to go, and making up the difference takes so much time.
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@quixoticgeek @meeoo Somehow run a train service between two minor cities separated by a military shooting range and a national park.
Which I still wouldn't take, because that hour of door to door will be spent entirely on the last few miles getting to/from the station with no time left for the actual train.
That's just the reality of public transport. With few exceptions, it runs from where you aren't to where you don't want to go, and making up the difference takes so much time.
@quixoticgeek @meeoo If I _had_ to take public transport to get to my current workplace, I'd have to move. It would drive me insane.
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@quixoticgeek @meeoo Somehow run a train service between two minor cities separated by a military shooting range and a national park.
Which I still wouldn't take, because that hour of door to door will be spent entirely on the last few miles getting to/from the station with no time left for the actual train.
That's just the reality of public transport. With few exceptions, it runs from where you aren't to where you don't want to go, and making up the difference takes so much time.
@Tubemeister @meeoo Apeldoorn and Arnhem? The Veluwe, and the Harskamp range ?
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@Tubemeister @meeoo Apeldoorn and Arnhem? The Veluwe, and the Harskamp range ?
@quixoticgeek @meeoo Yeah, between the Harskamp range and Park Hoge Veluwe.
I don't see it happening, for good reason.
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@swaldman @Tubemeister ns could run more stock. Whether they have enough stock. That's a different question. Possibly.
@quixoticgeek @swaldman NS could certainly run more (or at least longer) trains.
Once you get away from trains though, it goes downhill pretty quickly.
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@meeoo @quixoticgeek It is quite efficient for those people and their time and energy, which is why you see so many cars everywhere.
Is it efficient use of resources? Nah, probably not. Of time? Yep. Is that shortsighted? Up to a point, but not entirely.
I could take the bus to work, but it would take me 2 hours. Car's 40 minutes. So I drive.
Were that a one hour train trip door to door I'd take the train. Unless it's loaded to capacity, because ick people.
@Tubemeister
I agree that the critical variable here is density and some places will never really have competitive public transport.I still think things could be improved in the rural areas by packing the houses in villages rather than spreading them out three to a kilometer. And make the trip to the village center bikeable.
@meeoo @quixoticgeek -
@Tubemeister
I agree that the critical variable here is density and some places will never really have competitive public transport.I still think things could be improved in the rural areas by packing the houses in villages rather than spreading them out three to a kilometer. And make the trip to the village center bikeable.
@meeoo @quixoticgeek@niels @meeoo @quixoticgeek That is the thing with rural though. It has farms in it and those don't pack together.
It is why the US is so fucked when it comes to public transport though. Their suburbia is pretty much Dutch rural. You can't run a bus service against that kind of density, so they're stuck with their cars.
It can probably be better than it is now, absolutely. But I still think you're looking at PT possible, not PT practical enough to get around to ditch the family car.
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@niels @meeoo @quixoticgeek That is the thing with rural though. It has farms in it and those don't pack together.
It is why the US is so fucked when it comes to public transport though. Their suburbia is pretty much Dutch rural. You can't run a bus service against that kind of density, so they're stuck with their cars.
It can probably be better than it is now, absolutely. But I still think you're looking at PT possible, not PT practical enough to get around to ditch the family car.
@Tubemeister
I've been around some pretty rural places in Denmark (less dense than NL) and worst case around half the houses were non-farm. PT for half the people isn't nothing, especially as it creates some independence for those who can't drive.
@meeoo @quixoticgeek -
@Tubemeister
I've been around some pretty rural places in Denmark (less dense than NL) and worst case around half the houses were non-farm. PT for half the people isn't nothing, especially as it creates some independence for those who can't drive.
@meeoo @quixoticgeek@niels @meeoo @quixoticgeek There's room for improvement for sure, especially with some political will so that it's not just a matter of profitable or not...
It would be good if it was at least vaguely practical to get anywhere by PT for those who don't drive, even if it takes longer.
But the "last mile" problem is real in those places, and depending on details might well be a few miles walk from the nearest bus line.
There's a reason a lot of small towns go for a sort of on-call bus instead.
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@niels @meeoo @quixoticgeek There's room for improvement for sure, especially with some political will so that it's not just a matter of profitable or not...
It would be good if it was at least vaguely practical to get anywhere by PT for those who don't drive, even if it takes longer.
But the "last mile" problem is real in those places, and depending on details might well be a few miles walk from the nearest bus line.
There's a reason a lot of small towns go for a sort of on-call bus instead.
@Tubemeister @niels @meeoo the last mile is easy. It's called a bike
and surely it's the last 1.63km... -
@Tubemeister @niels @meeoo the last mile is easy. It's called a bike
and surely it's the last 1.63km... @quixoticgeek @niels @meeoo That's the first mile, it's usually the other last mile that's the problem. And that'd be 1.609 km if you're going to be like that.
But that is rural reality. Even a reasonable town of a few thousand people only has one bus stop. To get to the next town over might take half an hour, 9 of which are actually spent on the bus.
Great if you have a Brompton, but those are expensive and not everybody cycles.
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@quixoticgeek @niels @meeoo That's the first mile, it's usually the other last mile that's the problem. And that'd be 1.609 km if you're going to be like that.
But that is rural reality. Even a reasonable town of a few thousand people only has one bus stop. To get to the next town over might take half an hour, 9 of which are actually spent on the bus.
Great if you have a Brompton, but those are expensive and not everybody cycles.
@Tubemeister
We need buses with bike racks I guess. With the space Danish buses have for prams and wheelchairs it's practically there already, it just has to be free when you need it.
@quixoticgeek @meeoo
