Welcome to today's thread - 2025 #CrossBorderRail Finale Day 13 - 22 June - Oslo - Grums - Öxnered - Herrljunga - Falköping - Nässjö, onto night train
Today's new borders:
None
Borders map, inc. borders re-crossed:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#11/55.5584/12.7750
Today's trains on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#7/56.867/11.980
Here's today's #CrossBorderRail music track
Hugo Alfven: Swedish Rhapsody No.1 "Midsommarvaka"
Frédéric Zosso
Thanks @Jonas_Bostrom for this one - the right time of year!
Here's this morning's intro video, explaining what I am trying to do today!
Over there a recovery truck is picking up a FlixBus, presumably the one that was meant to operate my service to Grums…
We’re delayed 30 mins.
Now a further 30 mins delay announced
If I miss the train in Grums... my only option is to stay longer on the Flixbus, as far as Örebro
Might be an interesting argument: "Your bus was late, so I missed my train, so now you need to let me stay on it longer!" 🤔
It's almost like a real live case of the problems of Multimodal Digital Mobility Services the Commission is trying to legislate about!
#CrossBorderRail Finale Bus 12 of 22
Flixbus
08:00 Oslo S - Grums 10:36
Bus type: Volvo 9700, 2 axles
⛽️
🚲: ❓ (not officially, but there would be space in the hold)
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂 (hold is huge)
🧽: 🙂
But rather than getting us going a bit earlier, the driver is now smoking a cigarette
Priorities 🤷♂️
I simply do not see why anyone *by choice* would favour a bus over a train
Other than Lux Express in the Baltics (that strikes me as a genuinely good company) I’d very happily give all the others a miss
Edit: as people are going “but buses are cheaper!” - I get why then you’d take a bus! But if all else were equal?
@jon where there is a viable choice between the two modes, done people will still prioritise cost over comfort (and arguably environmental impact) even if they could afford the higher fare. It gets into interesting philosophical grounds of what "need" is at that point!
If fare and journey time are also the same, I really don't get why people would choose bus over train but I bet some still would
@mgleadow @jon I think this would be a niche choice even here in the UK. In my experience if the bus versus train discussions come up, it tends to be cost, end-to-end journey time, and crowding and reliability that affect the choice.
How close you get to your destination and how frequently services run are a big part of this.
@mgleadow @jon I am quite surprised to discover that there are some people who would prefer bus over train. Before I thought that except for people in a dire strait, or when it takes significantly longer (at least 2h more I'd had said), nobody would choose bus over train.
I think I never consider bus as an option. Actually even when the app proposes a faster bus transfer, I untick the bus option to get the train only course if at all possible.
@tomtom @jon this is interesting both in reminding us to remove our own views from biasing considering the position of items, and in reminding the rail industry of the importance of doing the above when considering passengers!
And as replies have shown, it's not just about cost, it's about convenience and certainty. Guaranteed seat, clean facilities important
Jon Worth
Martin Gleadow
Will Deakin
Tom Tom