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What's your preferred mode of travel for a trip of 200 km (125 mi)?

#Poll #EvanPoll

  • Plane (0%, 3 votes)
  • Train (65%, 306 votes)
  • Car (30%, 142 votes)
  • Other (please specify) (3%, 18 votes)
469 voters. Poll end: 1 year ago

Evan Prodromou reshared this.

Bicycle!

https://robbmontgomery.com/travel-berlin-to-copenhagen-bike-tour/
@mojo a lot of people said this. This is way over my limit for trips I'd prefer to take by bike, which is more like 5km.
@mojo 25 to 30 km is easy and fun with a little experience.

5 km for me is walking distance. It's barely with the hassle ok getting the bike out and dealing with the lock etc.
Depends. Usually train, but then there are places in that distance that are terrible to reach by train
Train... if it's reliable. And not having to do change every 25 km.
Hypothetical or actual?... in a perfect / better world, where dealing with trains is easier, then train... but in the real world, car...
I picked car, but only because train isn't an option here
I voted train, because that's what I'd ideally prefer - but in the UK, for a host of reasons, I'll almost always end up driving instead 😞
Car, but if train was a viable option in my area, I'd totally prefer that over car
@Magess train is not an option where I am, so I have no experience with that, er, experience. So ... car wins by default, as per the design plan for North America πŸ™
Motorcycle, of course. Trains are nice too. I use a car most often.
Most things within a 200 km radius are reachable most easily via car from home. London, Sarnia, Windsor, Hamilton, and the outskirts of the GTA are also within that 200 km radius of my house. Those require using multiple transportation methods so as to avoid going the long way around.
preferred and feasible are two different things. Would prefer train, but USA…
I wish I could answer some form of public transport, but living in the US means car. Cars, cars, cars. Alas.
I voted train, but I'd actually prefer to bicycle if I have the time, I can find a safe route, and there are good/interesting places to stop along the way. So far I haven't done a bike trip of this length though, my longest bike journey was about 50 miles each way, maybe 60 depending on how you count.
The furthest I've managed by bike is 160km, but I'm keen on going further.

That said go on train rides that long all the time.

I don't drive, so that's not really an option for me.
How about... "I'd prefer train, but since I live in the USA where we don't have regular trains outside of major commuting corridors, my only choice for that distance would be a car."
Star Trek Transporter!
I prefer a train, but if travelling with more than one person it's way too expensive.

For example, for a family of 4 who lives in Montreal to spend a week in Ottawa, renting a car for a week is a similar price to Via Rail, and unless you're staying in the downtown core you're going to want a car in Ottawa.
this really depends on the country I'm in. In Serbia this has to be by car, in europe I'd prefer the train but my work will get me a plane.
If my destination is easily reachable by train, I'll take the train. Convenience is the deciding factor tbf
Train is too unreliable and expensive in the UK, so car is the only option.

I can't see how planes would ever make sense for that journey.
@tony Air Canada runs 5 flights daily between Ottawa to Montreal, so apparently someone thinks it makes sense.
I chose other. With the acknowledgement I'm being snarky and not "coloring within the lines" here, my snap reaction is "Try to avoid having to drive 125mi" as a first step.

If I can't avoid it I'd go by car but only if I'm driving.

This is the midwestern US, traveling anywhere by train is a complete non starter.
Where is the option to stay home and continue living under my rock like a hermit? ;)
depends what options I have ig
trains aren't really a thing in the USA
@oooh_scary disagree.

But my question was, why does your preference depend on what's available?
@Anna
I just answered it
I try to travel by train, if possible. But in many instances, e.g. when I want to go to rural areas with bad or no public transport, or during the height of the pandemic, I use the car instead.
Wow, what a strange poll.

I'm "train". I love taking them. It can be tough if the place you're going doesn't have good regional public transportation, but otherwise very fun.
I prefer trains, specially electric trains like subways.
I love trolleys, those have some special place on my heart from the public transportation stand point.
The comments on this were wild! People brought a lot of context in that I didn't anticipate.

First was, "I prefer trains but that's not possible so cars". The question is "what is preferred", so it's interesting that people replied otherwise.

Second was, "No trains in my home town", which is also weird because the question doesn't ask about your home town or country.

I'll take those assumptions into account for future polls of this style.
Part of the problem is that for many, it is hard to even imagine some of the options. I've taken trains maybe four times in my life, and that includes commuter ones.

I was told there was a train in my area long ago, and a consortium of tire companies and oil men had it removed rail by rail to get people to drive instead.
Interesting would be the percentage of 'other' than motorbike within the 4% 'other' ... and of course their way over the distance ... donkey, zeppelin? πŸ˜€
It does depend where you start. A 125 mile journey from London is probably best on the train but a 125 mile journey from the moon is going to need a rocket or something IDK.
I'd like to believe that I would have given the same exact answer regardless.

In any case I made a decision to prefer public transport sometime in the 90s and that has influence my, and my employment and housing decisions.
The interesting thing about this question to me is that before September of 2001 I *loved* flying and that would have been my immediate answer. But then the experience got a lot worse.
I missed this poll! I would have selected train as well. I worked the BC Rail line as a track labourer straight out of high school from '86-'91. In my opinion, there's no better way to get around! Hopefully we get some nice, clean passenger travel all around Canada someday soon. πŸ˜€
@Greg it's definitely contextual!

If I ask, "Do you prefer cake or ice cream?" you can kind of guess that I'm talking about an abstract preference.

If I am pushing a dessert cart and ask the same question, you'd expect that I'm asking which of the available options you want.
@Greg
@brion yeah, if "preferred" was meant to elicit "in an ideal world scenario" than that should have been said.

If I was forced to not use a car to do that length trip around here I would not prefer it πŸ˜›
@Greg Even then "which do you prefer" is not the same question as "which do you want right now"
@Greg
@scott actually you said they're almost never an option.

It sounds like they *are* an option quite often, but you prefer not to take them because they're inconvenient, expensive, have delays, are annoying, don't have good services at the terminals, etc.
@mr_eking that preference makes sense.
Amtrak north of Seattle wasn’t available from lockdown until August last year. Going from Skagit to Seattle was three express busses. Lots of time to read!
If there’s adequate train service, absolutely train. Sadly where I live there’s rarely any train service, never mind adequate
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