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Comment by Shivetya | Hacker News Reader

well deeper into the article it mentions the line they are on seems to only serve connecting parliament with the main subway lines. to be honest its pretty typical arrangement for such work. promise a big route to serve needed areas but make damn sure it starts where those who wanted it.

but if it saves the authority money then it still is a good move, removes some of the gimmick feeling

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Unfortunately, that's a bit of spin in the article. I have clipped the relevant part of the route network (http://imgur.com/a/OR4Ee) and the U55 (brown) connects Main Station (Hauptbahnhof) to Brandenburg Gate where it meets the main north - south light railway (dark green, pink). For reasons, this line doesn't have the best connectivity to Main Station, switching lines at Friedrichstraße is a chore, and U55 will be welcome for passengers of the north - south line.

In a couple of years, U55 will also connect to U2 and make it easier from passengers from some eastern districts to reach Main Station. It also will be the tourist line, connecting a lot of tourist sights in central Berlin.

There's a bit of background about the future gap closure here: http://www.projekt-u5.de/en/

On the side note: We built and maintain that posted website. I hope HN traffic doesn't kill it ;)

Oh cool, nice site :)

The German parliament essentially has its own taxi service for the members to use within Berlin.

The only reason to use something else for transport, like a bicycle, is for political reasons.

Besides the parliament has no power over where subway lines in Berlin are built.

Using a bike for political reasons is a new one! Surely some of the more common reasons are valid - health, time saving, environmental concern?

Those are all good reasons to use a bike but if you use one as a politician (consider that Germany has a Green party that actually matters) it's also a way of showing "street cred", if you will.

It will certainly come across better to your voters than taking the limo to the train station (Berlin central station is 5 min by foot away from the parliament), which is supposedly a fairly common occurrence.

Hardly.

Before the Brexit mess, several senior members of the British government (and other senior politicians) would cycle to Parliament, and make sure people knew about it.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2015/dec/2...

It's also a stereotype of particular type of man: living in SW London or around London, 40+, very high income. They used to buy sports cars, but anyone can afford that, much better to spend £4000 on a bike: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/mid-life-crisis-r...

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