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Comment by moffkalast | Hacker News Reader

> cheap

> well developed

> reliable

Speaking as a guy in Europe where we generally have "good" public transport, I think you can only ever have ONE of those at the same time, with some exceptions.

Cheap fares? You get decrepit busses from the 80s and the timetable's just a suggestion (what my city used to have)

Well developed? Development isn't cheap so fares get expensive, busses are Mercs that run on CNG and the timetable's still just a suggestion - but you get live boards showing arrival times at least (what my city has today)

Reliable? You'll have to go to Switzerland or Japan to experience that, no other place truly has it. And those places aren't cheap... but they would count as having well developed route networks, so 2/3 for them I suppose.

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> Cheap fares? You get decrepit busses from the 80s and the timetable's just a suggestion (what my city used to have)

I don’t think this is generally true... If it is true, then the I suspect government subsidize are a bigger factor in explaining the variance of public transit quality then fare price.

Take Reykjavík as an example. It has the most expensive public transit fare price in Europe (86% above the European average) and all you get are some buses every 30-60 min (with only a handful of lines running more frequently during rush hour), timetables from the 80s and a ticketing system that never actually works. It is safe to say that Reykjavík has an expensive, poorly developed and unreliable transit system.

I think a well funded transit system can actually accomplish all three pretty easily, as long as they are willing to sacrifice some convenience for private vehicles.

> so 2/3 for them I suppose

In Zürich, a monthly city ticket is around $50, and a monthly country wide public transport ticket is $340 (and really gets you almost everywhere). Annual tickets are slightly cheaper.

I would argue while not "very cheap", the prices are still reasonably cheap, especially when compared to reoccurring car costs.

Switzerland also solved the last mile problem with Mobility, if you really need it

Also, the median salary in Switzerland is high enough such that $50 per month is absolutely affordable.

Vienna, Austria: public transport costs 1 EUR per day without any limits. It is also extremely well developed and reliable. Most people, especially without kids don't even consider getting a car.

Damn that's cheap, it's 1.5 EUR per FARE in Ljubljana and it as reliable as a stoner.

I thought slovenia was the Austria of the Balkans :)

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