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Bet on German Train Delays

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Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#111

Post by khafra »

croisillon wrote: post #14

for the people who wouldn't have inadvertently clicked on the website: it's not real money, it's a campaign to nudge the German provider to care about their infamous delays

I wonder how hard it would be to get a court ruling or new law that DB is required to bet on every arrival, and make their bets public in easily-digestible formats like .csv

I'd really like to see that happen for the S-trains, as well--DB loves nothing more than continuing to project an on-time arrival on the station board, as the time of departure comes and goes and other trains arrive and depart.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#113

Post by lava_pidgeon »

Schlagbohrer wrote: post #99
fnordian_slip wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredible that about 80% of people in this thread seem to be commenting without having looked at the website. In defense of Deutsche Bahn, countries with comparable infrastructure but more reliable transport have put in about twice as much money per capita for the last 30 years at least. Also, it went through a pseudo-privatisation back then, which hasn't helped (just private enough to focus on quarterly profit…

Privitisation is a huge curse, and a tremendous scam perpetuated by capitalist financiers. Where has it ever produced better results? No private entity can provide a service at cost like the government can.

SpaceX or rockets Generally, Telecom in Germany, flights in Europe, train transport in Japan and Italy.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#114

Post by globular-toast »

bulbar wrote: post #49
raincole wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all sliding slope when the only way an average citizen can reap the economic growth of their own country is stock market and saving only makes them poorer.

Contrary to what crypto currency enthusiasts believe, having inflation (most of the time) is the only feasible and sane way for an economy. Why ever do anything at all with your money, ever, otherwise? Except for basic needs.

> Why ever do anything at all with your money, ever, otherwise? Except for basic needs.

Why indeed? If people are only buying stuff because they are afraid of their money being worth less in the future then those are things people don't even want, let alone need. Why is it a good thing for us to endlessly churn out stuff people don't even want?

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#115

Post by gzread »

lava_pidgeon wrote: post #113
Schlagbohrer wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privitisation is a huge curse, and a tremendous scam perpetuated by capitalist financiers. Where has it ever produced better results? No private entity can provide a service at cost like the government can.

SpaceX or rockets Generally, Telecom in Germany, flights in Europe, train transport in Japan and Italy.

Allowing private competition is generally good, but converting an existing state monopoly to a private corporation is generally bad.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#116

Post by DocTomoe »

ozgune wrote: post #104
maxeda wrote: post #80

> In January 2026, Germany's federal court ruled that purchasing a Deutsche Bahn ticket constitutes a form of gambling (Glücksspiel), citing that “the probability of arriving on time is statistically comparable to a coin flip.” > Rather than contest the ruling, DBSM embraced it. If riding our trains is gambling, then passengers deserve the right to hedge. > BahnBet is our answer: a platform where you can bet against…

I'll save everyone a web search. This is satire and there isn't any such German federal court ruling. It also speaks to the world that we live in these days - I'm having a hard time separating satire from reality.

In all fairness, being both an avid Deutsche Bahn victim (with the Gold victim status), and knowing the German court system ... that was perfectly plausible, if a bit optimistic. I'd do many, many things if I got a 50% chance of arriving on time.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#117

Post by gzread »

joe_mamba wrote: post #105
littlecranky67 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For Deutsche Bahn, freelance contracting jobs in their IT famously always require 2+ years experience in train infrastructure companies as a hard requirement. Not joking, this is a common pattern in their job ads. Look at this ad, where they are looking for a Go/React/RabbitMQ expert: https://www.freelancermap.de/projekt/senior-fullstack-entwic...

Why is that an issue? It's a freelance gig, so you are free to ask for whatever requirements you want. But I remember being interviewed for a cybersecurity job at Siemens's Trains division and the german guys there started grilling me on some obscure cybersecurity standards used by the rail industry, even though that was never in my pentest resume and it's something that can be learned on the job. Germans really hate…

It's a problem because they don't get good employees and then they don't work well as a company.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#118

Post by gzread »

i-blis wrote: post #90

When I was young (70s-80s), we were all amazed by Deutsche Bahn's punctuality and quality of service (second only to the Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses). Now, French and Italian trains are a lot more reliable, which is rather strange. The Swiss Federal Railways asked German trains to wait at the border and has even ban many German trains to enter Switzerland over excessive delays to prevent their train schedule from…

The way I see it, French trains are more reliable, but they mostly go from Paris to other places. Germany operates a mesh network, with more lines, more centers, and more trains.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#119

Post by gzread »

globular-toast wrote: post #110
raincole wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saving is not 'not doing anything at all with your money.' Saving is lending your money to a generally low risk debtor, called bank.

That's not how banks work and hasn't been for decades.

What is a deposit if it's not a loan from you to the bank?

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#120

Post by sunaookami »

NikxDa wrote: post #66
ilikerashers wrote: post #63

German trains are absolute chaos. Tickets are sent via PDF for trains running 3 hours late. I was in Frankfurt last year getting to Cologne and back a few times. Coming from someone who has to commute via South Western railway into London everyday. Sad state of affairs for Germany.

German trains have very much to complain about, but honestly, their customer facing IT is pretty good. I've not had to deal with PDF tickets nor printed tickets in years. The website and app work well, in my experience. It's all pretty sleek and modern, too. It's the one area they do a good job in, to be honest.

>their customer facing IT is pretty good

What? The app is infamous for just "forgetting" tickets and when you get caught you HAVE to pay a fine and no they will not accept screenshots. You will win in court but have fun paying for everything in advance.

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