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Comment by ecolojetas | Hacker News Reader

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In general if you're trying to drive through a major city you're probably doing it wrong. Cities are far too densely populated for inefficient motor vehicles to be the primary means of transportation. You need to be using the tube or a bus instead.

I drive through Barcelona in 10 minutes and it's a 5 million super dense city, no dramas.

But London has been taken over by the ecologist dictators who enjoy your pain ("bleeding heals") and that's why London is a city with no future.

And I say Barcelona but I could say Warsaw, Paris, Kiev, and so on.

London had very few roads already and the current major took care to close them one by one.

Barcelona has 1.6 million vs Londons 8+ million. Also Barcelonas street layout was mostly designed in one go, whereas London’s street plan just kind of congealed over the centuries.

Also Barcelona has terrible air pollution.

That's why London should be opening more roads instead of closing the very few they have, while Barcelona can afford having more pedestrian segments.

Instead London decided to put bus lanes and bike lanes and wider sidewalks

Very ecological but fatal for the city, which has the worst commute speeds anywhere in Europe.

That's a competitive economy? Nope!!

Nonsense. Traffic speed is not proportional to a competitive economy.

While I agree with some of your points in the thread, Paris is a pain to cross, whatever the direction.

> Trying to cross the city by Uber? that will be 40 euros.

Argh, we’ve got people from alternate universes posting here now.

More seriously, going to Gatwick… do you not just get the train?

Euros? What kind of AI slop are you talking about?

You go to Gatwick airport you take a train, which is very good (although pricey), same for most of the main airports around London.

You should definitely avoid crossing London by Uber, as there are plenty of excellent public transport options.

Like most UK rail, it’s anywhere between somewhat expensive and _outrageously_ expensive, depending on exactly when you buy the ticket and how. Looks like it cost me 9.50 last time I was there, which is not _horrific_ for an airport (airport transport generally being a bit of a ripoff), but the barely-faster Gatwick Express would have been far more.

(The UK rail system is a uniquely user-hostile one, in that it seems designed to fool you into paying more than you have to.)

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