A friend of mine was bemoaning his recent travel experience in Berlin, apparently one of his favourite European Cities. He had not been for several years and was drawn to a conference in the City. He knew the old Teigel Airport well, and assumed, unwittingly it now transpires, that the “new” Brandenburg airport would be a leg up in all respects. This is Germany after all!
He was shocked to find that the new airport (actually several years old) is over 30 kilometres from the centre of the City, and that there is no fast rail link. On arrival one apparently weighs up taking the train with its seventeen stops and 50-minute timetable to Berlin Central, with that of a taxi that can do it in 35 minutes if one is lucky but is more usually the same 50 minutes. My friend was less than pleased to find his return taxi (less than 24 hours from arriving – such is the joy of the business traveller) took over 35 minutes to travel just 1.7 km in central Berlin before hitting the highway with a further 35 mins to suffer for the remainder. 70 minutes is just not good enough these days.
I have long believed that “face to face” is better than “virtual,” and “in the office” is better than “out.” It is certainly better economically and productively (for most), hence the search for workers to come to the office today.
As Cities strive to bring their workers back, they should also find the international traveller an attractive package for the money that they spend, and the “face to face” experiences that they come for (be they corporate or an individual).
Infrastructure is key. Why, then, do Cities sometimes get such major infrastructure projects so wrong in the name of progress? Berlin Brandenburg is no doubt an architectural masterpiece, with big halls and spaces projecting oodles of passenger capacity, but if those that go there then can’t then get to the place they actually came to see in a reasonable amount of time, these will not be the Cities that catch the footfall. London, I am pleased to say, fares reasonably well on this metric; the Heathrow Express is the envy of the world.
My friend speaks for huge $’s of international investment capital. His only question of me on visiting Berlin: When will they rebuild Teigel?
