this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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[–] HK65@sopuli.xyz 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I wish we had a unified ticketing system so I could get a monthly pass to cover both train, and bus.

It's not just the ticketing system.

Anecdotally, I needed to commute around 130 km from the Netherlands to Belgium for like half a year 3-4 days a week. The cheapest option (over buses, train, everything) was to rent a car each week from Avis. Eurostar, NS and SCNB should go to hell, how is me renting a car and fueling it less expensive than a train seat for the literal same route? In the Benelux?

And adding on top of that, the first train of the day has had a non-connection where the connecting train left 3 minutes earlier than the one taking me there, so that also limited how early could I get to where I needed to be.

On the other hand, I've reached the highest tier Booking discount tier in like 2 months so that's nice.

[–] tal 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

how is me renting a car and fueling it less expensive than a train seat for the literal same route?

Car rental companies operate in a competitive market, as do gas stations. Competitive markets are pretty good at driving prices down.

Trains tend not to.

https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/business_economics/natural_monopolies.html/

Railways as a natural monopoly

Railways are often considered a typical example of a natural monopoly. The very high costs of laying track and building a network, as well as the costs of buying or leasing the trains, would prohibit, or deter, the entry of a competitor.

To society, the costs associated with building and running a rival network would be wasteful.