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Comment by gwervc | Hacker News Reader

The airport line from and to the city (RER B) is literally the worst I ever took anywhere in the world. Two issues: there's no room or equipment at people's height for luggages which is infuriating. And it's shared with the local people going to and from the North suburbs, making it very crowded at times. I don't understand why there isn't a dedicated line, or at least a dedicated express train going on the line.

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If the RER B is "literally the worst [you] ever took anywhere in the world", then you mustn't have taken public transportation to the airport in many places. At least the RER B... exists! There are so many places where the airport can only be reached via car or taxi, it's insane. Many other places have just a bus. Usually a terrible bus.

Exactly. I was going to say the same exact thing.

Anyone else ever experienced the public transportless hellscape of Cancun airport? Where a short ride into the city is a cool 75 usd, rideshare is chased off by the cartels, and the walk to the highway to take a collectivo bus with incomprehensible route numbers is 1.5 miles away in sweltering jungle heat?

Or how about Tampa, Asheville, Austin or any other medium sized us airport, where train transport doesn't exist at all

How about Boston Logan which is only connected to the main Metro lines by a crappy bus that will add a nice 30 minutes and luggage heaving to your journey

I literally love the rer. It can be much shittier lol

I have to defend Logan just a little here. The new Airport station is a lot less convenient than the old one, but the Blue Line isn't really that useful unless you live in East Boston anyway (or on the Orange Line with a transfer at State St). The Silver Line to South Station is at least as good as the bus to new Airport. Once you're there, you're on the Red Line and by extension a couple stops from the Orange or Green lines.

I think it was a worthwhile trade off.

You are not wrong about Cancun, but you can take the ADO bus downtown for about $6, or rent a car for $25/day in low season or $50/day in high season with downtown return.

Supposedly there was an agreement reached between the federal government and Uber/Didi and they will be able to pickup in January. Remains to be seen. I hope they put the national guard in the terminal to keep the taxi drivers in line.

Yeah, remains to be seen. Too much money in it for the taxi cabal I think to give up.

But the fact that the locals don't even know what any of the bus routes mean is so hilarious to me

Actually, about half of RER Bs are express lines which go straight from CDG to Gare du Nord without any stop. They include a large luggage storage area at floor level, in the middle of the car. When you are at the CDG station, check if your train is going to be an express train or if it will stop at all the local stations before you jump in!

Another project is the CDG Express : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDG_Express

> I don't understand why there isn't a dedicated line

Obviously, because it would take away capacity for the regular users?

It's among the most heavily used lines in the world and tourists are probably a single digit percent of users, or less, so whatever funds available are better used to increase global capacity than to provide a better experience for a few people taking the plane.

CDG is also one of the busiest airports in the world and is used by French residents, not only tourists. If they can fill trains with airport traffic then obviously the demand is there, and that makes the other trains nicer for commuters who no longer have to step over luggage and get bonked by giant backpacks.

CDG is comparable to Heathrow. Before the pandemic, Heathrow Express carried 17k passengers/day. That's a bit over 100 passengers per departure, or about 1/6 of the capacity. It turns out that even the busiest airports in the world are barely busy enough to justify dedicated rail service.

The heathrow express is very expensive, before the elizabeth line a lot of londoners would just take the piccadilly

Dedicated airport trains are expensive, because the fixed costs are high and somebody has to pay the bills. Their passenger numbers are often naturally low, because they only make a few stops, which are not where most people are going. Metro lines and local / regional / long-distance railway lines that would exist without the airport are always more cost-effective. For many people, they are also more convenient, because they go to the right direction and stop at the right place.

The number of times I witnessed tourist's suitcases being swiped from the RER B as the doors were closing was just depressing.

And those suburbs are not populated with the nicest people, it didn't really feel very safe either.

PS: To elaborate, I took this train once and 2 men got on and started a big fight. I was thinking of getting off but the surrounding area looked like a bad one.

I've never taken it since. If there was a nonstop airport express it would be lot safer (and faster)

> If there was a nonstop airport express

There kind of is (it stops once). Here's the schedule for next week: https://www.rerb-leblog.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/oraire...

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