Once again for the people at the back. The purpose of public transport is to transport the public. Making money from doing so is a secondary purpose at best.
Noone talks about the profitability of the motorway network. So why do we do the same for public transport?
@quixoticgeek
Lol all motorways have a fee in my country and its private entities that get the cash and monopoly despite it being paid mostly with alot of EU public monies :D its very profitable for the private entities and terrible for everyone else
@suqdiq I had pondered visiting Portugal by train. My planning got as far as Madrid and then I had to go for a walk and calm down...
@quixoticgeek
Trains in portugal might be great in about 30 to 40 years....maybe..... :( i dont drive so i wish it was not the case... Spain does have some trains, its a shame we didnt learn from them :p ours are way worse than them and our task arguably easier...
@suqdiq and getting from Portugal into the Spanish network. Is Lisbon and Madrid the only pair of neighbouring European capitals that don't have a direct train connection? (Except for Helsinki)
@quixoticgeek @suqdiq We're just off to Helsinki from Stockholm tomorrow! By ferry 🙂
@quixoticgeek they do have a train connection......but it's literally like 13 hours..............yeah.........and politicians have been talking about TGV for decades but never materialises and folks that dont live in Porto/Lisbon really like their cars
i guess would be interesting to see how the petrol heads in Porto think about their Metropolitan line (overground tube), it's been 10y+ at least and it covers a big area/population and reaches other cities
@suqdiq @quixoticgeek last time I drove Porto to Lisboa it was easily €60 one way… the train is typically €45 one way, and flying can be as low as €35 one way, though I have snagged the odd round trip for €50. I find travelling within Portugal to be an almost endless source of cognitive dissonance.
in Italy it's the same - highways are owned by private companies.
I am not sure if they are always profitable though. We had cases like the bridge collapse in Genoa which apparently could/would have bankrupted one entity. Many highways defaulted in Spain in 2008, etc...
@gggeek
The contracts guarantee the money, if theres no usage they will collect a minimum fee (at least in Portugal), sorta like train companies in UK during Covid but like all the time and for decades :D
@quixoticgeek
@quixoticgeek
Portugal :D it's funny cause if you do Lisbon >> Porto (~300km), the highway tool is easily the most expensive part, more than the fuel !!! :D yay PPP (Public Private Partnership), public puts up the money, private takes the profit for 30 to 40 years