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Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

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Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#141

Post by maverwa »

djoldman wrote: post #57

> I was trying to travel 35 kilometers. I was now 63 kilometers from my grandmother’s house. Further away than when I started. Oh boy. There's something deeply human about the frustrations of state institutions and bureaucracy. From the linked article: > How are train cancellations and delays compensated when traveling with the Deutschland-Ticket? > In the event of a delay of at least 60 minutes at the destination st…

Maybe worth mentioning that this „1.50€ compensation“ rule only matters if you use the „Deutschland-Ticket“ which is a fixed price ticket for a whole month, unlimited travel on the Regio lines (short distance trains, i.e. non IC)

If you bought a regular route ticket you get 25% and more than an hour delay, and 50% at more than two hours. Not sure how it is with other multi-use tickets.

This, combined with the certain delays CAN make traveling by train quite affordable… /s

https://www.bahn.de/service/informationen-buchung/fahrgastre...

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#142

Post by hdgvhicv »

graemep wrote: post #54
hexbin010 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why they don't help at all? If it's anything like the UK, the staff have incredibly secure jobs and recently secured some good changes to their working conditions/pay. It's probably not in their contract to announce in other languages, so they do exactly what their contract says

I have found station and train staff in the UK to be very friendly and helpful. They do have very good pay (drivers can earn as much as some airline pilots) and a very good pension scheme on top of that.

drivers have amazingly good pay compared to say bus drivers, but station staff and on board staff don’t.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#143

Post by skrebbel »

As a Dutchman, I’ve come to love German trains. The joy of a first class ICE seat to with table service as the empty middle of Germany swooshes by at 250km/h is hard to describe. Those trains are very good. Super comfortable, super fast, and did anyone say “restaurant car”? Seriously, the little bottle holes in the tray in front of you seems perfectly designed to fit a .5L glass of Erdinger and I don’t believe it’s a coincidence. Freshly tapped Erdinger! On a train! I generally travel for the destination, but in Germany, I travel for the travel.

So as a fanboy, I am saddened by how bad DB has become. Once you’re on the train, and it actually goes, and it goes all the way to the destination, it’s still fantastic. All of the above generally still holds. But the many hours I’ve spent in the dark in cold windy places like Duisburg Hbf gleis fünf are uncountable, and it really does discount from the experience. I don’t remember the German trains being this late, this often, a ~decade ago. I really hope DB will get its shit together because there’s a lot worth saving.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#144

Post by throw-the-towel »

groestl wrote: post #123
sauercrowd wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong disagree. For most parts travelling is a non-event these days. A train that splits, on the way to the airport where there will be a lot of non-german speaking people, and for some reason only shows it on the platform is insane. Having a train that splits on that route is already bad enough, but you HAVE to emphasize it on the train. I know that I need to pay attention to this, because I've grown up with DB pul…

From the top of my head I know three cities which have peculiarities when it comes to public transportation to the Airport. In two cases, it's obvious they do this to push the private train to foreigners, at 5x the ticket rate.

Can you share which cities these two are?

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#145

Post by nephihaha »

mosura wrote: post #29
101008 wrote: post #10

I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don't help at all? It's also funny considering how here in South America we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc. But I am sure if this happens here it would be on the cover of newspapers.

German trains, as recently as the 90s, were phenomenal, and integrated superbly with the Swiss and others. It is in the 21st century that Germany has gone off the rails.

German trains were great twenty years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if things went haywire after lockdown. Many things did. It gave people a licence not to work and introduced a sloppiness into everything.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#146

Post by tapia »

Svip wrote: post #83

> The train starts moving. The driver announces there are “issues around Bonn.” He does not specify what kind. No one asks. We have learned not to ask. This is one of those issues I keep mulling about; it seems train operators (and airliners for that matter) tend to avoid being technically specific about operation problems, and just say "problems" and - if they are kind - where the problem is. And I cannot decide whe…

I am always a bit annoyed when the root of the problem is not explained. This is the case most of the time (DB of course). I would really like to have a bit more information. Even if there is nothing you can do, it helps to understand how big or small the problem is. Then you can make a decision based on it. Like getting out in the next station or something.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#147

Post by anal_reactor »

microtonal wrote: post #68
drunx wrote: post #24

I lived 15 years in The Netherlands and 3 years ago moved to Germany. Back in NL I used to complain about trains being late... Boy oh boy was I not ready for Germany and Deutsche Bahn. I heard stories, but it was so absurd at times that I treated them as comical acts. Then I traveled long distance on DB... - trains being late by 15-40 minutes is NORMAL. It's included. At this point I feel like it's even planned. - th…

And being delayed for 15-40 minutes, getting thrown out in the middle of nowhere, or having to continue by bus is an inconvenience for most people, but a nightmare for people with disabilities. Imagine being in a wheelchair, having a digestive condition (Crohn, IBS, etc.), or some sort of anxiety. I imagine that there are groups of people in Germany that simply do not travel anymore. It is an area where proper govern…

> they are fined

NS is state-owned so all fines are just money transfer between two branches of the government. Also, they know that "the trains fail with current amount of public funding, I wonder if less funding will improve the situation" is not good logic. Therefore there won't be any actual fines.

> and I think in an extreme case they can lose their concession

And then what? Most of the country will be left without trains? The company will be dissolved and replaced by the Chinese? Not gonna happen.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#148

Post by SpaceNugget »

johnisgood wrote: post #112
rwmj wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's going to the airport and so might be full of travellers and tourists?

Unpopular opinion: you should learn the absolute basics of the language used in the country you are travelling to. Seriously? That unpopular? Lmfao.

Going from the Netherlands to Budapest I started my journey with Deutsche Bahn. My train also did the split in half and go different directions trick. Was I supposed to learn Dutch, German, and Hungarian in order to buy my train tickets?

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#149

Post by nephihaha »

flexagoon wrote: post #18
101008 wrote: post #10

I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don't help at all? It's also funny considering how here in South America we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc. But I am sure if this happens here it would be on the cover of newspapers.

I recently moved to the Netherlands to study, and I experience that a lot. Despite almost all official information everywhere being written in both Dutch and English, in-train announcements are only done in Dutch. I have to constantly listen to the announcements and try to understand based off their vibe if they sound like something critical or not.

Dutch announcements in the Netherlands. Fancy that. Almost like it's the national language or something.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#150

Post by matrss »

mosura wrote: post #29
101008 wrote: post #10

I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don't help at all? It's also funny considering how here in South America we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc. But I am sure if this happens here it would be on the cover of newspapers.

German trains, as recently as the 90s, were phenomenal, and integrated superbly with the Swiss and others. It is in the 21st century that Germany has gone off the rails.

In other words: it's going downhill ever since the DB was privatized.
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