Railorfly.com is the world's first website to provide a thorough and "all inclusive" comparison of costs and travel times of trains and planes for 500 routes in Europe and North America.
It's surprising how much taxis or public transport really ups the cost of budget flights, especially in Europe, and at times getting to and from the airport can cost more than the flights themselves. For that matter, with check in times, the flight can take longer than traveling by train does.
RailorFly.com is here to help, providing a thorough and "all inclusive" comparison of costs and travel times of trains and planes for 500 routes in Europe and North America (worldwide coverage is on the way) "from city center to city center," including transfers to and from the airports by taxi and public transport and waiting times at the terminals.
"RailorFly.com's founding reason is that today - and more so in the coming decades with the expansion of high-speed railways - many travel routes are covered both by trains and planes at similar costs and travel times. The choice between the two options therefore depends on economic factors ('Which is the cheapest means of transport?') and duration factors ('Which is the fastest means of transport, including transfers and waiting times?')," said project founder Federico Pisanty.
"Thanks to our 'First and Last Km©' technology, RailorFly.com calculates the so-called 'first and last kilometer' of each plane journey (i.e. the distance from the city center to the departure airport and from the arrival airport to the city center): transfers to and from the airports and waiting times at the terminals. Furthermore, RailorFly.com provides customers with extremely useful information (public transport detail, timetables etc.) concerning these transfers."
This is, in fact, the second product offered to people on the move by this Milan-based digital publications specialist, after "Tipi Metropolitani®" (tipimetropolitani.it), the first world multi channel editorial product dedicated to urban movers, special mention in the "eCulture" category of the eContent Awards in 2008, sponsored by the President of the Republic of Italy.
"Our mission is to consolidate our presence in the travel sector through products focused on smart travelers, on the move and in need of something more than the usual travel guide or the usual travel search engines...," said Federico Pisanty.
With bases both in Milan and Barcelona, RailorFly.com's business model combines travel agency commissions, advertising revenues and re adaptation of the application for other, mainly mobile, platforms.
So to answer, whenever and wherever, the bothersome question: should I rail or should I fly?
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Railorfly sounds like a very useful site. This is one thing so many people forget to include in pricing which is the taxi/bus fares once they are at their destination. like you mention those fees can add up!
Bluegreen Kirk on 01 August, 2011