Originally Posted by
fairviewroad
But people don't live in Metro stations, either.
True, but Metro stations are a lot faster to navigate than the likes of Atocha. Only a fool would plan to enter Atocha less than 15 minutes before the departure of their train. OTOH, you could conceivably turn up 10 minutes before departure in Malaga or Sevilla, but then there's no Metro so you have to take a taxi, which means you'll probably get stuck in traffic and lose nearly as much time as you would with a taxi to the airport (especially in these two cities in which the AVE station is a bit of a hike from the centre).
Originally Posted by
fairviewroad
Generally speaking, I'd imagine the comparison holds up reasonably well for city-center to city-center travel.
I don't disagree with that, but it is different from saying that trains are actually
faster.
Originally Posted by
fairviewroad
And if you have to check bags on the plane, then of course that eats up a good 30 minutes on either end.
Agreed.