I remember when all the low-cost airlines started flying from smaller airports but today it seems like the major airports have expanded and taken back the low-cost airlines in many cases?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need to do two things – connect cities in Sweden with each other and with cities in Europe. We have high-speed trains, existing train networks, commuter trains, subways, buses, and last but not least the smaller airports that have seen less traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe that the flights from the major airports have reached maximum capacity to some extent, and it is a highly sophisticated small operation that, with the slightest mistake, can have incredible cascade effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we start with Stockholm – a one-hour one-way journey is preferable, two hours are acceptable but the goal should be to work towards a one-hour one-way journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have already connected Nyn\u00e4shamn, S\u00f6dert\u00e4lje, and Uppsala with commuter trains that take less than an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we have Eskilstuna, Str\u00e4ngn\u00e4s, and Enk\u00f6ping with high-speed trains already – also under an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nyk\u00f6ping and Norrt\u00e4lje could be considered for the above categories, but Norrt\u00e4lje is not exactly densely populated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we need to build the next circle which includes J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping\/Link\u00f6ping, \u00d6rebro\/Karlstad, the hellhole G\u00e4vle\/Ljusdal – a two-hour train journey that also does not run frequently enough and is often canceled is not particularly good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can this be solved with high-speed tracks, existing tracks with new trains, or how can we achieve that one-hour journey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When will it be time for “bus flights” – electric flights landing at Bromma (which is supposed to be closed down…) and operating between these larger cities, taking around 30-45 minutes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kalmar should definitely have an electric flight bus service because they are completely forgotten there, with no good roads or trains. Apparently, Kalmar was quite wealthy back when the Social Democrats had the money bag, so they did not receive any infrastructure investments as it was not the Social Democrats’ voter base, true or false?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we are talking about daily commuting – something that works for getting to and from work with enough departures and reliability (not like sh1t-SJ today…).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apologies to all Northerners for my mistakes below \ud83d\ude10<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have a line Arlanda – Ume\u00e5, with SAS, and it’s very cheap with numerous departures. We make Ume\u00e5 the Stockholm of Norrland and then we create similar rings extending from Ume\u00e5 to surrounding towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not necessarily for everyone to go into Ume\u00e5 and then down to Stockholm, but it will create more jobs in Ume\u00e5 because I decide so, and then the workforce is available in the surrounding towns outside Ume\u00e5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This way, existing large cities don’t need to grow further, and smaller towns can thrive instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the bootlegging up near the Finnish border, a similar approach is taken, but now Finland must be included in the picture, and I’m not familiar with the area, too many mosquitoes but good moonshine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finnair has an excellent “city-hopper” service to Helsinki, but the diabolical managers at Arlanda have provided them with useless check-ins and gates – I was ashamed to be Swedish about this, especially when arriving in Helsinki and the airport is like a da Vinci painting, and everyone is friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, make it easier to fly between Helsinki and Arlanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cities have more hotels and apartment hotels for this type of traveler – not expensive four-star ones, but cheap, easily booked simple hotels for daily commuters who worked late and need a place to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comfort Hotel near Arlanda is a good example – low prices, close to the terminal, and very straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe that all these modes of transportation must work together for this to function, aiming for a one-hour one-way journey and then finding a new mode of transportation outside the ring that shortens the travel time to another hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And finally, have flights from Arlanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vision – cheap, easy, frequent departures, and easy booking for overnight stays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Swedes will live in small towns that come alive, work 2-3 days in offices, and 2-3 days from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Real quality of life, not just on screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We left Stockholm in 2021 – the city is a traffic jam, and you have to queue for years for your kids’ sports, it was the best thing I ever did, and since the interest rates skyrocketed shortly after, probably even better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During COVID, I worked in Stockholm, but in the beginning when it was remote work, I spent a year in Portugal, which they didn’t know about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then for a year, I went into the office one day a week, and SJ worked about as well as Northvolt’s battery production, but it was manageable. The “Stockholm day” started at 04:45 and ended at 18:30, but it worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the last year, the pressure increased for more time in the office, so I went back to Portugal, and when the pressure became too high, I resigned and worked remotely from Nigeria during the notice period just to mess with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think I managed to spend a few months in Bahrain and Saudi in between, there was a potential new job there, but Saudi during COVID was marginally better than Treblinka, and we practically fled the country – the feeling when we landed in Germany was freedom, pizza, and a Heineken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So – I have tried this two-hour one-way trip to Stockholm and now advocate for a one-hour journey where when you go further out, you find the mode of transportation that ensures it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also fly a lot, and it looks like this – leave the house in a small town in Sweden the day before, go to a hotel near Arlanda, fly from Arlanda, either take a taxi\/train or sleep at Lisbon airport, and then travel one and a half hours to where we always go – a pure three-step rocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lisbon airport has two hotels right at the terminal, and so does Arlanda, just that they are too expensive, but we always use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portugal is completely lost because the country is full of Portuguese for some inexplicable reason, but they have significantly increased the number of trips with Redeexpresso buses, costing around 20EUR. For Portugal, it’s a resounding A+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we have all the business trips that just make you cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I have quite a bit of experience in getting from A to B in a three-step rocket more often than not and often think about how to improve it when sitting in the midst of travel misery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you take that one-hour radius around Stockholm with commuter trains, the next ring will not stop within this first commuter train ring at all but will go directly to Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third ring will not stop at the first two, and so on, so everyone, regardless of distance, has an hour to get to Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some countries have it easy – like the UK and the Netherlands, for example, where the country is like a round plate and distances are short, so they just run trains everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if you have tried to get from A to B in London, you know what a damn spider web it is, and you have to book ten different trains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We lived in Edinburgh for 7 years and always flew from Edinburgh Airport, tried the bus and train from London once each to save costs – never again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the Brits have good tourist flights during the tourist seasons, for a few hundred. I think it’s good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So – cheaper, more flights, and a spider web of different transport modes that make it possible to reach Stockholm, Ume\u00e5, and some remote place in the southwest, and South Sweden has Copenhagen too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then transportation between the nodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We shouldn’t forget about Oslo either – still don’t understand why we let them go and absolutely don’t understand why we turned down half of their oil profits in the 60s for a few billion in cash and Volvo shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First and foremost, this requires enormous foresight – but there are ten, twenty, thirty-year plans but surprisingly many of these projects die out, come to life, consultants make a few million on reports and then they die out again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You have to actively drive them as a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The towns will thrive on their own, the municipalities take care of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we need money, but if you add up what Northvolt, Stegra, higher electricity prices from decommissioned nuclear power, the cost of decommissioning nuclear reactors, new electricity production construction costs, and the money we give EXTRA to the EU because we are conflict-averse, and all the funds going to the rich in poor countries, you probably already have the basic funding ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put the money where it makes a difference instead of political pink-cloud projects that give them nice retreat jobs after politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or actually, they would get nice retreat jobs for these infrastructure investments too, and even the Green Party likes electric flights and trains, so what are we waiting for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, this is probably cheaper than trying to grow the big cities, but the cost is higher and the initial profit is lower, so we hope that the companies building can have strong lobbying against the politicians with many carrots so it starts at some point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Half of it is probably already there, and planning for more that is half on hold probably exists as well – just need someone to take a holistic approach and then look at available technology today and in 15 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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