Short-distance flying

Wrocław is not just my most beloved city in Poland, but also my most frequent destination in business travels. I last ventured there on Monday, 7 October, to a participate in a workshop and I for the first time I travelled there by plane (which was the second domestic flight in my life). The workshop date had been set in August, so I could buy tickets within a limit of airplane travel expenses (a return flight set my employer back around 300 PLN).

The workshop began at 9:30 a.m., while at that time the first Pendolino train arrived at 10:03 at Wrocław Główny station, which in fact meant I would have turned up nearly an hour late (not a desirable option). I could have gone there on Sunday evening, but I had not wished to give up on my private plans to take a business trip on a weekend day. A journey by car is the fastest (door to door) option, yet I was supposed to travel on my own (mileage allowance not being allocated per more passengers) and after taking several (on average one per fortnight) long-distance trips around Poland, I thought I would not get myself tired behind the wheel.

My lame excuse for plane being more environment-friendly than car was that the plane would fly to Wrocław anyway, while my car was sitting in the garage, not emitting carbon dioxide. This assertion is as wrong as the one that one vote does not count in an election. Each individual shapes demand for short-distance flights. If masses of individuals do not choose such connections and opt for trains, airlines would be forced to reduce number of such flights, as with low seat occupancy they would be loss-making.

The morning journey went smoothly. I left home just before 6:00 a.m. (the time when Pendolino to Wrocław which would carry me too late was pulling off from W-wa Centralna), took 504 bus, changed to 148 bus and arrived at the airport at 6:30 a.m.. Touched down in (frosty) Wrocław just before 8:30 a.m., caught the 106 bus to town, arrived to my destination some 10 minutes before the workshop commenced.

The way home got more complicated. The plane which was to take me home broke down on its way from Warsaw, had to return to Warsaw, be fixed and then took off again. As a result, the plane bound to land in Warsaw at 7:20 p.m. touched down an hour and a half later. I returned home an hour later than I would have come back by Pendolino (and had to change means of transport three times: 175 bus, then 189 bus, then M1 underground, then 179 bus).

The delayed return flight has made me realise one-day travellers who were about to end their journey in Warsaw were just a tiny minority (less than 20%) of passengers. Most people flying from Wrocław to Warsaw were about to miss their another flight. As an airline representative told me, it is quite common PLL LOT sells tickets from Wrocław to a city in Europe or outside our continent and as a package offers a connecting flight to Warsaw and then a direct flight to a final destination. Hence the delay of 90 minutes ruined itinenaries of some of passengers.

The problems with trips to Wrocław are the lack of relatively fast train there and lack of connections arriving to Wrocław around the beginning of a business day (i.e. between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.). Look at what PKP Intercity offers to passengers willing to travel for one day to a major city from Warsaw (timetable from 20 October 2019 to 14 December 2019).

Service to Wrocław: 6:00 – 9:54 (nearly four hours, late arrival)

Services to Kraków: 5:55 – 8:22 or 7:00 – 9:17 (less than two hours thirty minutes and reasonably early arrival)

Service to Poznań: 5:36 – 8:26 (less than three hours and early arrival), but then no reasonable service until 9:30 – 12:25)

Services to Katowice: 5:25 – 8:11 or 6:45 – 9:13 (the second service within less than two hours thirty minutes, reasonably early arrival)

Service to Gdańsk: 6:25 – 9:16 (less than three hours, reasonable arrival).

Am I the only one who sees morning connection to Wrocław is the worst of the five above?

Train connections to Tricity, Silesia, Kraków or now Poznań can boast of station-to-station journey duration comparable or faster than door-to-door journey by car. Because there is no straight-line railway to Wrocław, the fastest door-to-door journey by train takes around five and a half hours. Compare this to door-to-door journey to my company’s head office in Wrocław which by car takes three and a half hours if you drive at reasonable speed (around speed limits or a little (no more than 10 kmph) faster) and add lack of reasonable and fast connections (PKP Intercity, do catch up!) and you will find out why only those who do not have driving licences, are afraid of long journeys behind the wheel or refuse to use their private vehicles for business purposes even in exchange for mileage allowance, travel between Warsaw and Wrocław by train (unless they can book a flight in advance).

I have promised myself not to take any airborne trip to Wrocław, yet for abovementioned reasons, I cannot pledge to take the train. The argument that despite longer journey I could work in a train is flawed, since quality of Internet connection (muffled LTE coverage) since on most incidences leaves a lot to be desired (though I have record of positive surprises in this respect). I hope one day Wrocław will have as good train connection to Warsaw as Gdańsk (same distance, journey shorter by an hour), however this would probably necessitate construction of new tracks (maybe between Łódź and Wrocław).