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I concur, and I'm Dutch. The Dutch have a habit of complaining about the trains here, not realizing how it's, well, better than nearly anywhere else. Look at a

I concur, and I'm Dutch. The Dutch have a habit of complaining about the trains here, not realizing how it's, well, better than nearly anywhere else. Look at a railway map of the country, the complexity is more akin to that of a big city's metro network than that of most countries. There's trains everywhere and they go all the time. And then people have the audacity to complain if they have a 20 minute delay once in a while. I do think it's ridiculous, however, than driving somewhere by car is cheaper than going the same distance by train once you're 2+ people in the car. I don't understand it. How can't trains be more economical? Is it just that the roads are more expensive to build and maintain than the tax we pay for it (via fuel taxes and road taxes and the likes).

nizmow 7y ago
I'm not Dutch, but moved here around 18 months ago and the rail system is one of my favourite things. City to city is one thing, but many many small villages are linked by slower trains. Sometimes I've caught trains to small villages to do an NS walk and it reminds me a lot of Japan. The fact that I can consider moving to Rotterdam or Den Haag and continue working at my job in Amsterdam is really something. EDIT: sometimes traveling by car is cheaper even with _one_ person in the car, if you don't have the 40% discount. I guess that's the biggest downside.
Vinnl 7y ago
> I do think it's ridiculous, however, than driving somewhere by car is cheaper than going the same distance by train once you're 2+ people in the car. A prerequisite for this is often already owning the car and not incorporating the ownership costs into the cost analysis, I think. (Which does in practice means it's cheaper for practically everyone. That said, I think for many people hiring a car when needed and using public transport most of the time would actually be the cheaper option. For some value of "many".)

nizmow 7y ago

I'm not Dutch, but moved here around 18 months ago and the rail system is one of my favourite things. City to city is one thing, but many many small villages are linked by slower trains. Sometimes I've caught trains to small villages to do an NS walk and it reminds me a lot of Japan. The fact that I can consider moving to Rotterdam or Den Haag and continue working at my job in Amsterdam is really something. EDIT: sometimes traveling by car is cheaper even with _one_ person in the car, if you don't have the 40% discount. I guess that's the biggest downside.

Vinnl 7y ago

> I do think it's ridiculous, however, than driving somewhere by car is cheaper than going the same distance by train once you're 2+ people in the car. A prerequisite for this is often already owning the car and not incorporating the ownership costs into the cost analysis, I think. (Which does in practice means it's cheaper for practically everyone. That said, I think for many people hiring a car when needed and using public transport most of the time would actually be the cheaper option. For some value of "many".)