Everyone knows that the key to success in real estate investment is transport, the ease of getting the people who work in an office or go shopping to that location. If that journey is difficult or becomes difficult, then the attraction of that location diminishes.

The actual journey time doesn’t matter too much. Frequency and reliability are what matters; the other passenger transport mantras for long- distance journeys of speed, cleanliness and comfort are still relevant but don’t apply so much to short-haul journeys. If it all proves too difficult, then the pool of labour and retail therapists simply goes somewhere else, somewhere easier.

National and local transport and town planning authorities know this and put great effort into optimising the passenger transport system and making people’s decisions and lives easier. At the inner-suburban Rotterdam-Blaak station where I found myself recently, for instance — “it might not be much of a station, but i