Berlin Archives - Jon Worth

Night trains to/from Berlin

We’ve been invited to present at an event in February about night train services to and from Berlin, the city where our campaign is based. That has led to some interesting reflections – rather than seeing the complete picture of night trains in Europe, what would work from one city[Read More…]

17.01.2022 2 comments

Analysis

A trip to Wendisch Rietz – an example of car-free mobility

One of my lockdown pastimes has been to explore Brandenburg, the Land that surrounds Berlin. One such trip took me to the village of Wendisch Rietz (population: 1620), south east of Berlin, and at the southern end of the lake Scharmützelsee – to walk along the edge of the lake was[Read More…]

14.07.2021 1 comment

Analysis

Tegel Airport – good riddance

It’s finally happening. Almost 8 years late, Berlin Brandenburg Airport is at last opening this coming Saturday (31 October), and that means Tegel Airport will finally close by 8 November. That has prompted another round of outpourings of emotion about the old Tegel. So einen Flughafen wie Berlin-Tegel wird es nie[Read More…]

28.10.2020 6 comments

Analysis

Why is the Berlin-Amsterdam train so slow? And why is it so hard to do anything about it?

This tweet and news story from The Netherlands caught my eye this morning – “Dutch Railways will make trains to Berlin and Brussels much faster: “We want to seduce air passengers”” the title says. Whether prioritising that route – to get people off planes – even makes sense is open[Read More…]

27.08.2020 13 comments

Analysis

Which Berlin eScooter sharing scheme should you join? Testing Coup and Emmy

tl;dr – join both Coup and Emmy If instead you want some detail, read on. Contents Introduction Prerequisites Signup Pricing Scooters Helmets Test rides Miscellaneous other remarks Summary Introduction Berlin – long the testing groud for car sharing schemes – has a new mobility craze. The eScooter sharing scheme.[Read More…]

04.09.2017 4 comments

A rail postcard from Köln

Dear Violeta, It’s only a week or so since I wrote the last postcard to you. That one didn’t receive a response – perhaps you were too busy talking to the rail industry, rather than thinking of passengers’ needs? Anyway, today at Köln Hbf things went spectacularly wrong as happens[Read More…]

20.10.2015 0 comments

A rail postcard from Berlin Südkreuz

Dear Violeta, I have had plenty of time to contemplate this postcard to you. Most of the day in fact, as I’ve wasted that long trying to get to the bottom of what ought to be a rather simple cross-border railway problem. Later this week – on Thursday 8th October[Read More…]

05.10.2015 0 comments

Analysis

Now Dresden-Wrocław trains are cancelled for good – third piece of bad news for PL-DE rail this winter alone

Following the end of the Berlin – Wrocław EC Wawel (early December 2014), Frankfurt(Oder) – Poznań RegionalExpress trains (end December 2014), we now have the news that Dresden – Wrocław RegionalExpress trains will cease at the end of February 2015. News of this cancellation can be found here in Polish[Read More…]

20.02.2015 10 comments

Guides

My attention-seeking Blaze bicycle light

As a person I seldom stand out, at least to look at – I am of medium height and medium build, my hair is plain and I choose my clothes precisely so as no-one remarks about them. If you passed me in the street your head would not turn, and[Read More…]

24.01.2015 0 comments

Analysis

The extraordinary ease of DriveNow, GPS-based car sharing

“Why would I need a Mini or a BMW for car share?” I wondered when I first saw DriveNow cars on the streets of Berlin when moving here 15 months ago. A bit of searching online led me to discover that DriveNow (like its competitor Car2Go) is a car share[Read More…]

21.01.2015 7 comments