I live within five kilometres of that line but it’s not exactly convenient to live here without a car.
We have public transport but you have to time your journeys carefully or make a long walk to the nearest station.
It takes me 8-10 minutes to get to Neuchâtel by car but it would take me close to an hour by public transport and I’d be very restricted in the timing.
We chose to live here and we love it so I’m not complaining but not everywhere is well served by public transport.
It’s not only where one lives that underlies the cars vs public transportation issue, but also what one does.
For instance, much of my car driving is ferrying sick critters to the vet. Even if there were viable public transportation to the vet - there isn’t btw - I’m guessing my fellow passengers wouldn’t want to sit next to a dog who is having a seizure, or projectile vomiting, or exploding with diarrhea, or…
No matter how high gas prices rise, I’ll drive. There is no realistic alternative.
Working on switching to an electric car, though.
Tbf, I don’t think this is a typical use case - and your 20’ trip can also become 2h if there’s a total accident blocking the road or whatever. I wonder from where to where that’d be - 1h is believable, but 2.5h?
It really depends on what standards one applies - I really hope we’ll reah nation wide 15’ clock schedule in the next 100-200y or so. If we have a point to point connection every 15’, a car really becomes unnecessary for daily use.
That being said: grocery shopping as a large family probably still will not really work without a car.
I mean if access means within 15’ of a bus stop, then sure - imho anything more than 5’ from a bus stop or like 7’ from a train station is very impractical.
It is a nice region, but the tax rate is so high, you almost forget you’re in Switzerland 
.
It was a brisk walk to the train station in Schondorf and a twenty minute two station trip to Geltendorf where you waited for over half an hour for the ram-packed sweaty, un caffinated people filled S-Bahn that stopped at every-friking-station untill it reached Pasing 45 mintes later. Then another brisk 10 minute walk to the bus fron Pasing to Planegg which took another half hour, from then it was a nice stroll to my dank two story undergroung rathole of an office where I spent most of my time watching youtube.
On the way back it was over an hour wait at Geltendorf because the timetables of the MVV and the BOB didn’t mesh.
Or… five minutes to the Autobahn where you floor it and arrive in Planegg 20 minutes later.
Uff, this hits hard - well in your case the door to door time probably was unreasonably long. inter rural commuting is just something no country really does right afaik - Switzerland is still the closest we ge. Our village has like 3K inhabitants and still has a train station with trains every 30’, absolute blessing. I live like 4’ of slow walking away - and I even made it in 2’ in a pinch with some exercise 
I guess the thread split was necessary.
Fuel matters, but total cost of ownership may be several times the price of fuel. Unless it’s an old car where depreciation is minimal, where only 3rd part damage insurance is reasonable, and parking cost is not relevant. Anyway, maintenance costs are unavoidable and they can eclipse the fuel costs even in depreciated cars. Also, there should be some savings for that day an accident happens (deductible), or unscheduled maintenance is needed.
So, unless there’s enough cashflow and savings to face whatever comes, the car is a risky bet. Public transport, even if terribly inconvenient, is the safest bet. If the train breaks, the invoice is not arriving at home.
I guess it depends on how productive you can be whilst waiting. I never go anywhere without a book. List-making, reading, writing letters, etc.–I’m always armed for waiting. Yeah, I should talk, given our array of stuff.
A big question is how do we put a price on convenience.
A point that is often overlooked with public transport here is that it is great for travelling in and out of main centres but not so good for travelling between villages.
For example, the next village west of me is 6km away and takes 7 min in my car.
Public transport means a bus, then a train then another bus which takes almost an hour, one of the buses makes its last trip at 20.20 which is not great for visiting friends or a restaurant
I guess for 6km you can use a bike instead.
Alternative to bus is a foldable scooter to the train station.
I am a good weather cyclist
Don’t feed the troll…
Huh?
He throws the word “troll” around with gay abandon if anyone doesn’t agree with what he thinks.
I’ve on his ignore list because I called out his constant and tiresome bragging.
Switzerland is currently among the countries with the highest diesel prices in Europe.
Because the Swiss federal government has not changed the tax applied to oil derived fuels. Other countries have reduced this tax.
Not a complaint. This seems reasonable.
I am ignoring that troll but somehow I had to see his comment that you quoted. That kind of comment is typical for a troll who wants to provoke any kind of response from you. The best thing you can do with a troll is to ignore him completely.
The ignore function of this forum is a bit strange anyhow, it shows quotes sometimes and a thread stays on unread state if the last comment is from a troll.
Do gays do that?
Don’t feed the troll, again. Seems trolls still use sexual orientation as offense point to provoke answers. Don’t fall for it!
Back to topic: I wrote not long ago “does uber exist at all”. It does and I did use it often, first in Switzerland to get to the airport, then here in Spain. Sometimes at 4-6 in the morning, no problem while taxis are almost impossible to get. Fortunately cab drivers are a dying race.
I think in Spain the regulation made it hard for uber, there was just one company that had a licence to operate uber cars. With the effect that they were more expensive than cabs in Spain, probably the only country in the world where that happens.
But anyhow, uber cars are more practical than cabs, have a much lower waiting time and the waiting time they show is correct. Drivers probably make too little money. I always give a big tip, why the predefined tips are so low?.
I mean I don’t like calling people with other oppinons trolls - he may just used a hyperbole statement to illustrate his point - and I think you called me troll as well in the migration debate… So I assume anyone is doing their best and just stating their oppinion, which is valid imho.
I would second that !
It is common for the creche for young kids to be in a nearby village. Trip with the car: 5 mins. The route runs parallel to (about 3km away from) the train tracks. With public transport: bus + train 1 stop + bus upon arrival, easily 45 mins. The same to get back home. Repat in the afternoon to collect the kids. Doing this every day is impossible, unless one is not working at home with a lot of time (in which case they probably won’t be using the creche 100%). And the buses run every 30min at peak times, 1h off-peak (like 9-11am & 2-4pm)