Recently the web-site anna.aero did a comparison of domestic European air fares. Their scenario was that someone was told on Monday that on the following Friday he'd need to make a business trip, leaving around 8:00 and returning around 17:00. The full (and very interesting) article can be found on www.anna.aero.

The city pairs were Paris - Toulouse, London - Glasgow, Madrid - Barcelona, Munich - Berlin, Rome - Milan, Stockholm - Gothenburg and Oslo - Bergen. He would have hand baggage only and would look for the cheapest fare.

I did a very quick and cheerful comparison of those results and the comparable train journey. In most cases, the comparison is reasonable: the passenger would have a reasonably comparable amount of time at the destination whichever mode they used. The research said nothing about exact origin and destination points, although since low-cost carriers have been used some of the airports are remote from their cities. Only in the case of Oslo-Bergen would the traveller not have had much time for their meeting - although they would have experienced some glorious scenery!

If you compare rail and legacy carrier, in all cases the rail fare is less than the air fare - in four cases by over 300 Euros. Only in two cases is the difference trivial (30 - 60 Euros).

If you compare rail with a new entrant (low cost) carrier, there are 3 routes where it's cheaper by air (by 3, 24 and 63 Euros). In the rest it's between 70 and 223 Euros more expensive by air.

Fascinating!

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) produces a fortnightly newspaper, 'Passenger Transport'.

I have just finished trying to read the 27 September issue - because it comes to the UK by surface mail, it always takes a while to reach me. This issue was significantly longer than usual, because it was based around the annual meeting in San Antonio - and this made it even more unreadable than usual.

It's never very reader-friendly, but consider the content of the pages listed below and then think about reading that sequence in a crowded commuter train - as, of course, its readership is likely to.

Where I have not given a page number, it is because it only contains advertising.

Page 2 contains a complete article.
Page 3 contains one complete article and another continued on page 4.
Page 4 contains two articles continued on page 64, one from page 3 and 4 complete articles.
Page 5 start an article continued on page 6 and completed on page 7.
Page 8 contains two complete articles.
Page 9 contains an article continued on page 28.
Page 10 contains one continued on page 39.
Page 11's article is continued on page 22.
The article on page 14 is complete, as is that on page 16 and page 18.
Page 20 contains an article continued on page 28, as does page 22.
Page 24's article is continued on page 30.
Page 26 contains a complete article.
Page 28 has one article continued from page 9, one from page 20 and one from page 22.
Page 29 contains a complete article.
Page 30 has the end of the article which started on page 24.
Page 31 has one continued on page 36.
Page 32 has a complete article.
Page 33's article is continued on page 38.
Page 34 has a complete article.

Just to throw the reader completely, there is then an insert of four un-numbered pages.

Page 35 has an article continued on page 36.
Page 36 has one complete article, one continued from page 31 and one from page 35.
Page 38 has a complete article and the end of one from page 33.
Page 39 has the end of an article started on page 10 and the start of one continued on page 46.
Page 40 has 2 articles continued on page 50.
Pages 42-44 each have one complete article.
Page 46 has one complete article and one continued from page 39.
Page 47 has one continued on page 49.
Page 48 has one continued on page 50.
Page 49 has one complete article and one from page 47.
Page 50 has the end of two from page 40 and one from page 48.
Page 51 has one continued on page 52
Page 52 has the end of that article and one complete article.
Pages 53-58 each contain a complete article.
Page 59 has 4 complete articles.
Pages 60-62 contain industry leader profiles.
Finally, page 64 has two articles continued from page 4.

Why? Why? Why are so many articles split? Why is reading it such a feat of gymnastics?

As a fairly long-standing member of APTA, I am sometimes consulted on the association - its future strategy, my satisfaction with the way it meets my needs and so on. I always comment on the unreadability of 'Passenger Transport' - its main contact with me - but have yet to see any response. Will this blog produce one?