6 ms·

But you have excellent trains in that area! Ok Antwerp-Lille has a change in Bruxelles, but you still can do the trip in under 90 minutes.

by carlob 8y ago

seszett 8y ago
They're actually really not that good. Antwerp-Lille by train is more like 2 hours and 30€, one-way. So even if we don't take into account the extra time it's still about twice as expensive as by car (about 12€ one-way on diesel) and then the train does not depart from my home, and I still have a metro to take in Lille to get to the office. If the various transport networks were better integrated though, it could be at least as fast and as convenient as by car. A first step would be not needing between six and four different tickets for a round-trip: De Lijn for the tram in Antwerp (and/or Velo passes for the shared bikes) SNCB for the train departing from Antwerp, Transpole for the metro in Lille (and/or V'Lille for the shared bikes) and SNCF for the train departing from France.
- holografix 8y ago
  Let’s not forget the fact that the trains run unpredictability late very often!
  - yayana 8y ago
    Let's not forget that road contents and flow are at the best times unpredictable.
  - carlob 8y ago
    That's Germany not Belgium ;)
- Fnoord 8y ago
  Comparisons like these are moot because if you regularly plan to use the train you can commonly (not sure about Belgium specifically) get a subscription allowing you to save costs. Especially if you don't work from 9 to 5 but odd times.
  - seszett 8y ago
    Actually, it's not possible to get a plan for a once-a-week commute, at least with SNCB/NMBS, even putting aside the fact that my commute crosses a border (which makes most of the available plans unavailable to me anyway). I've tried very hard to look for something that would make taking the train even remotely competitive with using my car, but unfortunately there is absolutely no convenient option in my particular case (and even in the more common cases, train is just as cheap or as fast as car in the best case, rarely better).
    - pergadad 8y ago
      But had is not your only cost. Insurance, repairs, ... And It's not all about cost. Just to add two factors that you might want to consider as relevant:: How can you use the time. Eg in a train you can read a book, do an online course, ... even work if you feel the need. I'd choose a 2h train ride any time over a 90 minute drive. Twice a week 60 minutes spent on a good course book or online course will in the long term give you much more value than the price of the train ticket compared to the price of gas. And of course environment-wise the choice is obvious.
      - Fnoord 8y ago
        Nowadays you can listen to audio books in your car. I haven't done this, I'm curious how safe that is.
    - pergadad 8y ago
      You can try to resonate real cost per km eg thru this tool by the German car driver association. https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/autodatenbank/autokosten/autokosten-rechner/default.aspx https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/autodatenbank/autokosten/aut...

But you have excellent trains in that area! Ok Antwerp-Lille has a change in Bruxelles, but you still can do the trip in under 90 minutes.

by carlob 8y ago

But you have excellent trains in that area! Ok Antwerp-Lille has a change in Bruxelles, but you still can do the trip in under 90 minutes.

seszett 8y ago

They're actually really not that good. Antwerp-Lille by train is more like 2 hours and 30€, one-way. So even if we don't take into account the extra time it's still about twice as expensive as by car (about 12€ one-way on diesel) and then the train does not depart from my home, and I still have a metro to take in Lille to get to the office. If the various transport networks were better integrated though, it could be at least as fast and as convenient as by car. A first step would be not needing between six and four different tickets for a round-trip: De Lijn for the tram in Antwerp (and/or Velo passes for the shared bikes) SNCB for the train departing from Antwerp, Transpole for the metro in Lille (and/or V'Lille for the shared bikes) and SNCF for the train departing from France.

holografix 8y ago
Let’s not forget the fact that the trains run unpredictability late very often!
- yayana 8y ago
  Let's not forget that road contents and flow are at the best times unpredictable.
- carlob 8y ago
  That's Germany not Belgium ;)
Fnoord 8y ago
Comparisons like these are moot because if you regularly plan to use the train you can commonly (not sure about Belgium specifically) get a subscription allowing you to save costs. Especially if you don't work from 9 to 5 but odd times.
- seszett 8y ago
  Actually, it's not possible to get a plan for a once-a-week commute, at least with SNCB/NMBS, even putting aside the fact that my commute crosses a border (which makes most of the available plans unavailable to me anyway). I've tried very hard to look for something that would make taking the train even remotely competitive with using my car, but unfortunately there is absolutely no convenient option in my particular case (and even in the more common cases, train is just as cheap or as fast as car in the best case, rarely better).
  - pergadad 8y ago
    But had is not your only cost. Insurance, repairs, ... And It's not all about cost. Just to add two factors that you might want to consider as relevant:: How can you use the time. Eg in a train you can read a book, do an online course, ... even work if you feel the need. I'd choose a 2h train ride any time over a 90 minute drive. Twice a week 60 minutes spent on a good course book or online course will in the long term give you much more value than the price of the train ticket compared to the price of gas. And of course environment-wise the choice is obvious.
    - Fnoord 8y ago
      Nowadays you can listen to audio books in your car. I haven't done this, I'm curious how safe that is.
  - pergadad 8y ago
    You can try to resonate real cost per km eg thru this tool by the German car driver association. https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/autodatenbank/autokosten/autokosten-rechner/default.aspx https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/autodatenbank/autokosten/aut...