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Bet on German Train Delays

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Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#201

Post by moooo99 »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #132
moooo99 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Telecom in Germany Telekom is a profitable enterprise. Yet, telecom infrastructure in Germany is on a remarkably bad level and relatively expensive. Cell coverage is also still bad, especially when travelling via rail or car. With the exception if the Japanese Rail, all the other examples are different in one crucial detail: they are not natural monopolies.

Yep, compared to other countries, Germany is almost third-world country, when it comes to reliable Internet service, and prices.

Yeah, after all, we need to protect the financial interests of a formerly state-owned monopoly :)

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#202

Post by moooo99 »

flrlfmkhmem wrote: post #145
moooo99 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Telecom in Germany Telekom is a profitable enterprise. Yet, telecom infrastructure in Germany is on a remarkably bad level and relatively expensive. Cell coverage is also still bad, especially when travelling via rail or car. With the exception if the Japanese Rail, all the other examples are different in one crucial detail: they are not natural monopolies.

I don’t think you’re aware of how bad the national railway has been managed in japan, they even went broke in the 80s with trillions in debt and had to split up sell off all their infrastructure and vehicles. That’s the reason why there’s often many non-interconnected competing stations at the same site today.

Yeah, I have absolutely no clue about japanese rail whatsoever, so I chose to not comment about it.

For Germany though, the rail „privatization“ has been an absolute failure no matter how you try to spin it, unfortunately. But hey, at least we have nice rolling stock!

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#203

Post by hermanzegerman »

pimeys wrote: post #198
hermanzegerman wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you actually took a train in the last 3 years you would know that the process is know online via the App/Website, and everything is already filled out for you

Sure. And then a few weeks later they send you a letter, asking all the information again which you have to send by mail. Source: my train back from Amsterdam was late...

My refund from my cross-border journey this Sunday was issued yesterday.

But that was from Germany to Austria, so that might make a difference

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#205

Post by gzread »

globular-toast wrote: post #151
gzread wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Nothing. It's just a number in an account. It's what we call money basically. Banks don't profit from keeping your deposits, they profit from running the money supply which empowers them to create new money which they tax or, in other words, loans on which they charge interest. Go and try to withdraw something tangible with intrinsic value from a bank and you'll see they don't owe you anything at all. The most you'll…

So when you go to the bank teller and hand them $100 in cash, the bank doesn't receive $100 in cash?

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#206

Post by gzread »

joe_mamba wrote: post #126
gzread wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Maybe they don't want good employees, they want yes-men instead that don't rock the boat and keep the politics gravy train going for the C-suites. Good employees are required for the private sector that has competition, not for pseudo-state controlled pseudo-monopolies.

And that's a problem. Maybe the shareholders don't find it to be a problem, but it's a problem for everyone regardless.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#208

Post by globular-toast »

gzread wrote: post #205
globular-toast wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing. It's just a number in an account. It's what we call money basically. Banks don't profit from keeping your deposits, they profit from running the money supply which empowers them to create new money which they tax or, in other words, loans on which they charge interest. Go and try to withdraw something tangible with intrinsic value from a bank and you'll see they don't owe you anything at all. The most you'll…

So when you go to the bank teller and hand them $100 in cash, the bank doesn't receive $100 in cash?

When was the last time you went to the bank teller and handed them $100 in cash? I haven't done that in well over 20 years now. Notes and coins represent less than 3% of the money supply in countries like the UK and US. It's not what money is any more.

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#209

Post by gzread »

globular-toast wrote: post #208
gzread wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So when you go to the bank teller and hand them $100 in cash, the bank doesn't receive $100 in cash?

When was the last time you went to the bank teller and handed them $100 in cash? I haven't done that in well over 20 years now. Notes and coins represent less than 3% of the money supply in countries like the UK and US. It's not what money is any more.

So when you transfer $100 to your bank from another bank, the bank doesn't receive $100 credited to your bank's bank account?

Re: Bet on German Train Delays

#210

Post by gzread »

i-blis wrote: post #135
gzread wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Surely a factor. As is the deregulation. I've been living in Germany for a very long time and the real decline started some ten years ago. At the beginning mostly because of poor maintenance. My first years with the DB 100 card (allowing to travel on all trains) were a pleasure then it deteriote to the point where you start yourself: where is this heading. As I said, the ban of SBB on German trains was a turning poin…

Switzerland also gets the benefit of being a smaller country. I agree DB is poorly managed, but it's not nearly as bad as it could be.

I think another part of their problem is trying to run at very high utilisation ratios, which slightly increases throughput but vastly amplifies the cascade effect of a disruption.

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