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).

Post-election musings

Oddly enough, the final results fell nearly accurately into line with exit polls (no deviations observed for the two biggest groupings).

PiS politicians, despite having won the election, have few reasons to be complacent.

They had poured billions of zlotys into Poles’ pockets – the nation has refused to be bought off with their own money to the extent they had expected…

They had harnessed the horrid propaganda machinery (TVPiS) against the opposition…

Campaigns run by the opposition had been mediocre, unlike theirs.

And despite all those tailwinds they have received the same number of seats in the lower house of the parliament and lost control over the upper house – hats down to the opposition for the Senate treaty without which this would not have been possible.

Admittedly, the very outcome is owed to lunatic-right Konfederacja, which having scored more than 1.2 million votes, is no longer is a marginal grouping. If we add up votes gotten by KO, Lewica and PSL and compare them to votes cast for PiS and Konfederacja together, the latter total is some 300,000 higher. These numbers do not bode well.

The election was a referendum – whether you embrace of reject the way PiS wants to run Poland. Mobilisation was witnessed in both tribes, which is not entirely reassuring. I have written several times Poland was divided as never before. Now the turnout is higher, but the rift is only deeper.

After losing control over the upper house of the parliament, PiS began to falter and was hit by a series of missteps (to my delight).

Media report of attempts to buy off Senate deputies in order to win majority there, laying bare end justifies the means method of handling political affairs.

Mr Banaś, kept away in the run-up to the election, refused to stand down from his position of Supreme Audit Office chairman, albeit even politicians of PiS admit given evidence of his criminal deeds, he was supposed to be file a resignation.

The battle for sex education yet another time casts light on backwardness of the party and if the government decides to pursue harsher punishments (up to five years of imprisonment) for educating teenagers on human sexuality, strong social backlash is in the offing.

Jarosław Gowin and Zbigniew Ziobro, formally leaders of two other parties which have formed a coalition with PiS and whose candidates have won twice as much seats in the parliament than four years ago, hold out for more influence on the government line-up and conspire to oust Mr Morawiecki from the prime minister’s seat.

I sincerely hope PiS is already filled with as much hubris as comes before the fall. In the coming months they might stumble and fall more frequently, yet it will not wean their electorate off them so quickly. Majority of people who support PiS, except the party’s hardcore electorate, cannot see further than the end of their noses, so the loss of pecuniary allowances will prompt them to verify their affinity with PiS. We will have to endure four years of PiS in power, yet their advances to spoil Poland will (hopefully) be thwarted by the upper house. 

With the oncoming economic misery (not just the GDP growth deceleration but inevitable inflation driven by enterprises inability to absorb cost pressures) PiS should stay in power to face the music, not the opposition, if the Poland is to benefit in the long term from being freed up from the detrimental rule of PiS.

The vote is over

Fresh thoughts at the sight of exit polls…

In the era of Internet unofficial results (#bazarek) were circulated over the day. Early in the afternoon they filled with dread (over 55% for PiS), then reports of record-high turnout in Warsaw brought about a surge of optimism. Last two hours before 9 p.m. were a rollercoaster…

I would not get attached to the results, since IPSOS pollsters screwed it up all the way in May 2019 and thanks to large mobilisation in big cities after sunset. PiS might still lose simple majority, but stands little chance to get 60% of seats necessary to reject president’s veto.

I strolled around Natolin between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and crowds were still wandering to polling stations. The turnout in Ursynów has most likely exceeded 80%. Proud of my neighbours.

Regardless of the outcome, higher turnout signals Poles increasingly wish to participate in democracy and whoever wields power, is more legitimate to do so.

Thirdly, let’s wait for final results, including allocation of seats to the upper house. They will determine the scale of relative victory / defeat of PiS and the opposition. Nevertheless, seat-wise, the ruling party most probably has not made as big progress as it wished and is aware of number of Poles standing up against its rule (just to remind, according to preliminary results it wins 4 more seats in the lower house than it did in 2015).

Who laughs the last, laughs the best.

I have done my bit and contributed to turning down the rule of PiS. My conscience is clear… A broader follow-up next week.

A message to my compatriots one week ahead of the election…

…which is battle for the shape of Poland in years to come. I have not authored the italicised text below. It has been written by professor Jan Widacki in July 2019 and can be read in Polish here.

The very presence of PiS does not bring misery on Poland; the tragedy is that 40% of Poles see eye to eye with PiS. Even if the opposition miraculously won the autumnal election, set against hard-line electorate PiS it would have their hands tied, particularly they would not hold Kaczynski’s party accountable for violating the constitution nor for all other ignoble deeds. Putting any politician of PiS before the State Tribunal is out of reach. To make it happen, the opposition needs a swingeing victory over PiS, an score it does not stand a chance to get. Mending the institutions of the democratic state looms impossible as well. We will be wallowing in the mire for a long time, pushed aside to the sidelines of Europe.

Under those circumstances, focusing on PiS makes no sense; the attention has to be paid to the 40% of Poles who vote for PiS. Poking fun or insulting them does the opposite effect. It prompts them to close ranks and induces their affinity with those not only do not ridicule them, but who turn their drawbacks and wicked instincts into merits, namely with PiS.

For my part…

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Next Sunday do not stay passive, go to your polling station and cast your vote. It does not matter PiS wins anyway. Every vote against them decreases their majority in the parliament and their legitimacy to wield autocratic power. In this fight of David against Goliat if they do not win simple majority, I will call it a victory. I hopes Poles get mobilised as they did 12 years ago. Kaczynski fears it already, mind it!

The last good year for the Polish economy

If you claim PiS has a macroeconomic agenda for Poland, I am afraid you would find it hard to convince me. The economic agenda of the ruling party rests on social allowances, this one pillar is fairly sufficient to prop it up and buy off several voters who, for the first time since 1989 have been given tangible cash into their hands.

The previous governments were pursuing systemic reforms, while this government neglects important spheres which require attention and investments, such as education, health service, efficient public administration. This is all done at the expense of money spent on social transfers. A new system of roads, modern trains, an improved schooling system prove not to improve the comfort of living as good as five hundred zlotys held in a palm.

Allowances generously given out by PiS are not correlated with what products or services put out in an economy nor anyhow linked to productivity. With the same amount of goods and services delivered, incomes of individuals rise. This in the short run spurs consumption and propels economic growth, but in the long run, as any student of economics should know, would spark off inflation, the phenomenon has already begun to materialise and apply most to basic products, such as fruits and vegetables, as well as to services.

The continuous price growth is consistently ignored by the central bank, whose officials obstinately point at its temporary nature, while in fact the inflation has not been caused by external shocks, but is driven predominantly by rising wages which are the component of a price of nearly any product or service. The central bank, by keeping its benchmark rate over one percentage point below (official) inflation rate not only facilitates transfer of wealth from savers to borrowers (including the biggest debtor, i.e. the government), but also fails to fulfil its statutory task which is ensuring price stability.

Savings of those have put some money aside are eaten up by inflation or actually the savers lose in real terms. When such situations occur, cash holders flee their cash and attempt to invest in assets which can potentially protect their savings from inflation. The biggest victims are first homebuyers priced out of the market, since the property market is the mostly afflicted by cash fleeing.

The cost pressures are hitting results of enterprises which have to raise wages (this pertains mostly to manufacturers), bear higher costs of energy (to be unfrozen in 2020) and transport. As an analyst covering corporate clients I have access to portfolio statistics which clearly show 2017 was the best year for corporates in Poland, then profitability of businesses dwindled in 2018, first half of 2019 have brought a further decline and number of distressed companies is further rising. With quick growth of minimum wages and increase in social security contributions the trend is unlikely to reverse.

Fellow bankers and I in unison are confident the Polish economy is anywhere but in the balance. It is overheated. I blame the Polish government, precisely their pursuit of policies of adding fuel to the fire and the central bank for not raising the interest rates when it should have been done, i.e. in 2017 for the overheating.

Regardless of my gripes, PiS is bound to win the election due in two weeks. As I once pointed out, it ought to win to pay the price for its reckless policy, but we have to mobilise ourselves to minimise the scale of their victory, at best not to let them win simple majority. Keep the faith!

Live by your rules

An odd jumble of thoughts inspired by the recent definitely not uneventful (who else think double negations take away from clarity of a sentence?) week…

1. Communication between males should be straightforward. If you bear a grudge against your male mate, tell it to him straight in his face. Whenever a discord arises between you, speak out and get it off your chest. Courage is a man’s virtue, so do make use of it and have your say.

2. Some women are like monkeys. A monkey, while jumping around trees, needs to grab one branch before letting the other. Some women will not quit her current boyfriend before they find another one and ensure they will have a smooth landing in his arms just after thy break up. I find it disgusting…

3. This links to thought #2. Bring yourself into order before you start over. This means after you decide to terminate a relationship, get over it, realise what has been wrong with it and what you do not want to repeat in the next one.

4. If you want, you will find a way, if you do not want, you will find an excuse.

5. If you have a problem with yourself, firstly admit it and define it. If you fail to cope with it yourself, nor your friends are capable of helping you, consult a therapist. This is not a shame, a shame is to get stuck in a mire.

6. There is no room for mercy in business. The corporate world occasionally gives somebody hard time or just sends somebody under. If this is a part of the game, so shape up or ship out.

7. The universe is in a balance. The evil you receive from people into the long run is counterbalanced by the good. While the former hurts, the latter must be discerned, taken with gratitude and paid back for.

8. Karma always returns. Being good to fellow humans disinterestedly pays off in moments of predicament even when you least expect it.

9. Even if you think you are a misfit, look around. Quite certainly there are several misfits whose look at the world is akin to yours.

10. See further than the end of your nose. A recent research on motivations of main political parties electorates shows majority of voters of KO and Lewica back the opposition since the vision of a country their favourite party presents squares with their view, while those who support PiS do it since the ruling party ensures their personal benefits (pecuniary allowances).

Beauty is only skin deep

In early July, when she came for an interview and I saw her in passing only, I thought they are about hire another manager. Having looked at her legs I said to myself I could work under her (in case anybody wondered what that post was inspired by).

She joined my team (i.e. the one I work in, not the one I am in charge of, for avoidance of doubt) in August as a junior analyst. As a next year’s graduate, she has some way to go before she becomes a self-supporting team member. By that time the workload she takes off other workmates is offset by more experienced employees’ time sacrificed to teach her. No wonder, this is called an investment in human capital. Nearly a decade ago some people, whom I am grateful today, have invested in me.

She had had an internship last year in another department, then had a break and returned to my team. She can boast to be in the first decile of best students of the same university I have graduated from, so the managers thought she is a very promising candidate.

In terms of background, I believe she is OK. Her energy and positive attitude resemble me at such age (i.e. in 2010) will keep her company for a while, then the ruthless corporation will suck it out of her. In terms of behaviour, from the first hours, she has been extremely bold, including asking people personal questions and openly flirting with me (after two weeks of attempts and being confronted with my humorous, yet firm retorts she has not completely given up on, yet reduced frequency of ambiguous chats).

What she is like? Tall, skinny, figure of a model, dyed blonde hear, tonnes of make-up on face (a thick layer of powder and vivid-red lipstick). Her behaviour is anything but natural not straightforward. She plays out roles all the time, every her word, movement, smile, look seems carefully planned.

Whether she’s beautiful? Either I can’t tell, because I have never seen her without make-up (somehow I don’t long for it) or just she does not square with my definition of a beautiful woman who is beautiful without make-up.

My female colleagues dislike her. Not because they envy her a model’s look, but since they see her duplicity and mistrust her. She is anything but trustworthy, so we all watch our words while she is around.

Male workmates at first salivated at her sight, after a month they make laugh of her. Quick change of mind boys in the office have exhibited lifts my spirit. We have all realised she is looking out for a new cash machine. She met her current boyfriend while having the aforementioned internship, therefore she could not return to her previous workplace. My capacity to become a cash machine are decent, yet my motivation is close to zero (I am considering the “money in exchange for sex” arrangement).

One evening I thought about printing out the motto of the fellow blogger: UNDERSTAND YOUR BIOLOGY. THEN RISE ABOVE. But on second thoughts I concluded this would be too provocative, through bright.

In the meantime our manager is committed to be her mentor and coach and spends lots of time teaching her (taking that undesired load off backs of team members). Sadly, folks around the floor have noticed it and his engrossment in taking care of the new employee is a topic of gossips and jokes in nooks and crannies of the office… To make it clear, I do not think he would go beyond professional framework of this relationship, but the very fact an attractive young girl sees him as seasoned manager boosts his ego.

Life’s a whore…

After one turns 30, when the ticking of the clock is more audible people tend to go into two extremes. Either they raise the bar too high and no potential partner can meet their exorbitant requirements or they lower their expectations overly and get involved into middling relationships. This reminds me of one sink-or-swim decision I should take…

Polityka - film review

Went to a cinema yesterday for the first time this year (shame on me, flat finishing tribulations and summer period were inconducive to familiarising with new moving pictures). To see the long-awaited depiction of Polish political arena, I chose a lunch-time screening at a local Multikino. The film which had premiered on Wednesday is played more than 10 times a day over the first week in Multikino Ursynów, which signals the only cinema in the neighbourhood has braced for high demand for tickets. I feared the screening room would be crowded, yet I was nearly alone out there. The audience was composed of around 20 viewers. Not a blockbuster…

I have watched some of Patryk Vega’s films shot in recent years, some were reviewed as not worthwhile buying a voucher exchangeable for a cinema ticket, therefore I knew I should have not expected a highbrow sense of humour nor a sophisticated plot. Polityka’s first reviews were anything but favourable; critics and journalists view the film as mediocre.

As for the plot, a little spoiler – the film is made up of a few stories whose plots and characters intertwine with one another. The stories are a mixture of “I have seen it all before” and some political fiction, however far too predictable and far too obvious in terms of similarities with real persons and events.

The cast and the effort of actors to play the scenes from Polish politics after 2015 are major strengths of the film that make it worthwhile at all. Hats down to Andrzej Grabowski (the chairman), Antek Królikowski (an almost minister of national defence) and Zbigniew Zamachowski (the father director) whose roles in the film proves their mastery in the craft.

The film deals blows nearly only to the ruling party, although there are several prominent politicians of it omitted at all (not a second dedicated to the current justice minister who has done more harm to Poland than the former prime minister). The opposition is ridiculed in one of the stories only, yet for the sake of symmetry and despite my antipathy towards PiS I would see more opposition-flogging scornful scenes (Ryszard Petru being my main candidate to be derided).

Just like Kler and Tylko nie mów nikomu, the film is going to change nothing in the parliamentary election due in 5 weeks. I keep hoping for a result ensuring PiS misses the simple majority by a number of seats large enough to make buying off deputies from other groupings a nuisance.

#metoo

The sexual harassment scandals have first begun to come to the light in the film industry. The outrages were sparked off by situations some of which I believe provoked by young women intent on making quick careers. You could argue who should take moral responsibility for incidences of harassment speeding up career advancements. I believe it all boils down to sexuality of humans which cannot be muffled nor circumvented. Regardless of the guilt (although I lean towards blaming the “system”), the issue has become an issue of critical importance and another brick in the wall of political correctness. It has also spilled over corporations, many of which have put into effect schemes and code of practices (sometimes absurd and at the end of the day having the opposite effect) which prevent such situations.

A few months ago I had an online training on violence and sexual harassment at workplace. My female and male workmates have unanimously mocked at it, coming to a conclusion we have repeatedly been both victims and perpetrators of sexual harassment. Under the definition paying your workmate a compliment that their outfit suits them well already falls under sexual harassment. A proposal to go to kitchen to drink coffee together or to go together for a lunch out also might make you a criminal. Or let your workmate sue a corporation and wheedle out money.

My scepticism towards #metoo does not mean I embrace various forms of overstepping boundaries at work. I believe however some behaviours might be acceptable:

- obvious ones, as eating or drinking coffee together, travelling in a lift or sitting in a room without glass walls and other persons assisting you,

- ambiguous jokes or another form of humour not aimed at any specific person, albeit my good practice is to hold back from really bawdy jokes when women are around,

- soft flirting confined to paying compliments.

What is unacceptable then:

- any form deemed acceptable above if a specific person affected it has expressed their wish to cease it or finds it unacceptable,

- lewd humour aimed at specific person (although there are people, like me, who find it acceptable as long as everybody knows there are just jokes)

- explicit proposals,

- touching, groping and other forms of physical contact.

I also recommend an article from Financial Times which puts the matter in a well-balanced perspective.

Stringent rules and fear of being accused of harassment or assault have also the other side of the coin. They hamper starting up relationships (out of such fear) at workplace which at some age is the main opportunity to meet new people and spend more time with them (needless to say relationships on superior – subordinates line or between units where conflicts of interest may appear are not desirable). Unless you want to install Tinder… Yet the dating application offers the muck many of us, including me, do not fit in…

Hybrid Toyota - get it out of your head

The New Factory has recently adopted a new company car policy. Procurement experts and financial planners have been bending over backwards to improve the way car are used by an organisation I work at and have worked it out. This week I had a chance to try out a demo car, in an identical configuration as the vehicles due to replace our current fleet. I took a trip to a provincial town in Poland, some 150 kilometres from Warsaw with three passengers (and me) on board…

The New Factory wants to boast of the lowest carbon footprint on the market, therefore it has chosen to use hybrid cars only (they opted for Toyota only). Also for some reason employees of The New Factory tend to heavily press accelerator pedals in company cars and their employer has apparently resolved to crack down on it.

The revised policy has in my opinion two major flaws which disqualify it from being hailed as eco-friendly.

Firstly, the replacement periods – the cars will be leased for a period of 2 years or 60,000 kilometres, whatever comes first (and then replaced by brand-new ones). Durability and reliability of a properly-looked-after car should let it be used over 5 years or 150,000 kilometres. Someone who has negotiated the contract has presumably not learnt how much CO2 is produced during vehicle manufacturing – I have looked for several data, they are not fully consistent, but on average, CO2 emitted before a car leaves factory gates is the equivalent of driving 80,000 kilometres under current stringent norms for petrol-fuelled cars…

Secondly, engines. A 1.8-litre engine for a Corolla and a 2.5-litre engine for Camry in the era of far smaller engines (compact cars do well with engines below 1.5 litres, mid-class cars with engines below 2.0 litres) is a big misunderstanding since whatever is saved when an electric engine is in use will be wasted while a petrol-fuelled engine kicks in.

If you shape a fleet policy, you should ask yourself a question, what purpose the company cars should serve. I do believe employees ought to be encouraged not to use them for commuting to work nor to drive around town. They should travel longer distances where it is not practicable or cost-effective to use trains, planes or other forms of transports. My two trips last week (first behind the wheel of a hybrid Corolla, second in my private car), both to district towns in Poland where it would takes around two or even three times longer (door to door) to get otherwise than by car are the ideal examples when the fleet is necessary.

Coming to the point, i.e. to driving impressions – with silence at low speed and decent parameters of the electric engine, the hybrid car is ideal for around-town driving, an ideal car for a… taxi driver. While if I move about city, I use public transport or take a taxi, not a company car. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, a city car does not rank among desirable means of transport. Beyond town, on a dual carriageway, then on an expressway, driving was a misery… The CVT automatic gearbox does not let a driver feel control over how a car accelerates. Maybe I am overly accustomed to manual transmission, but I felt uncomfortable despite considering myself a rather seasoned driver. The very reaction of the car to pressing the accelerator pedal when one needs to change a lane quickly or to overtake has little to do with what I consider safe manoeuvre standards. I am used to pressing the accelerator pedal and making a car picking up speed rapidly (in 1.4 turbocharged engines of my private Megane, or company Passat). A hybrid Corolla at first does not react at all, then it chokes and just then accelerates reluctantly. I would fear overtaking a truck on a single carriageway… On top, the car is humming at higher speeds (above 130 kmph) and wobbles as if it signalled an imminent disintegration… I believe it was not the fault of the specific demo car (just above 4,000 kilometres on the clock) since many of my workmates have taken test drives with other vehicles and their impressions are similar. For the first time in my life I am happy not to be eligible for a company car.

A quick look at technical specs (especially the torque) of the hybrid engine is self-explaining. I wonder how they have measured the average fuel consumption, since on an expressway at around 140 kmph computer of the hybrid Corolla with 4 adults inside showed current consumption of 12 – 13 litres per 100 kilometres.

If I were a decision-maker of a car fleet policy, I would proscribe to:

- abandon a company car as a perk – the top-rank staff should just get paid enough to afford to buy a decent car,

- broaden the extent to which pool cars are used – an analysis of historical long-distance car journeys would be conducted and a sufficient number of cars per team or department would be allocated, individual cars would be granted to staff covering historically at least 20,000 kilometres in business (this would also reduce number of parking spaces rented),

- lengthen the replacement periods to at least 5 years or 150,000 kilometres, whatever comes first,

- impose penalties on employees who do not look after cars they use properly.

I actually considered switching to a hybrid car in some time, but having driven one, mindful of how little I drive around town and knowing how much carbon footprint the manufacturing process gives off, I am intent on keeping my current car going for as long as possible.