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Comment by ivan_gammel | Hacker News Reader

Let’s say you have an appointment at location 15 minutes away from train station at 9:00 and your train arrives at 7:45. You will have to wait for 1 hour and probably spend this time unproductively and maybe even at extra cost (e.g. you choose to get a cup of coffee and a sandwich in a restaurant nearby).

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Yeah, if you plan your appointment at a place 300km away willy nilly without checking the train schedule and if you plan your car drive in a way that you dont plan for any congestions leaving Hamburg, on the Autobahn, entering Berlin (good luck!), then yeah: The car is more expensive, more tiring, and slower. But get this: Instead of having an hour you can spend at your destination to your liking, you get to use that extra hour driving your car! Congratulations!

Sorry but that has to be the most contrived and ridicilous statement I've ever read. And this is coming from someone -- me -- who owns two cars, lives in Berlin and practically never uses public transportation.

I believe the OP who started this is not familiar with public transport travel.

In many cases you are absolutely right, the appointment times can be adjusted according to train schedule, destinations are nice places where you can find something to do in between etc. Public transportation in Germany in most cases is better than cars (I do not even have driving license for that reason - never needed it). Still, the calculation logic is right: when you travel somewhere to be there at certain time, you need to include some buffers in your planning, both for trains and for cars. Every 4th train in Germany arrives with delays and not every appointment can be planned for your convenience.

If I have an appointment, I'll rather take the train, be rested and have enough time in the train to prepare for the meeting. all the trains have wifi and power.

In Germany the trains are also faster than cars on the Autobahn, even if I theoretically could drive 180km/h. All my travels from Dresden to Berlin, Leipzig or Frankfurt are faster by train than by car. ICE only.

Now with this offer, the slow RE trains only, it's slower than by car, but still more attractive. Just if I have a meeting far outside a big town, and bad connections (say the bus only goes every 30min) and I have to walk 10min, I'll take the car. For my next travel to the Leipzig Kanupark I'll take the car, but all other business and leisure trips are by train. For the last 3 years already.

Metronom from Hamburg to Bremen does 160kph in their DOSTOS on the so called "Rollbahn". Which count as RE/RB, so are usable with this €9 thing.

Short 3.5 minutes Docu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOL0MZQiELI

Long Cab ride:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg608B6CgC4

Track: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanne-Eickel%E2%80%93Hamburg_r...

If I was driving I'd aim to arrive pretty early too (random traffic happens).

> even at extra cost (e.g. you choose to get a cup of coffee and a sandwich in a restaurant nearby).

That's the pessimist's view. The optimist wanders around and randomly finds a place they would never have found otherwise. I mostly do the first. Sometimes I find something truly interesting. Sometimes not, but I don't think the unproductivity you mention has harmed me. (Yes, occasionally I absolutely have to hack something, so I search the first place where I can use my laptop. But I try to avoid that in all but the most familiar cities.)

Why not take the train that leaves half an hour later?

1. Such train may not exist. 2. Train at more convenient time could be fully booked. 3. Train at more convenient time could be significantly more expensive.

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