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Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

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Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#281

Post by Hasnep »

BasedGroyper99 wrote: post #274
kelnos wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there were no fountain, then many people would get water bottles and that's too big of a hassle. Right, and if there was no public transit, then many more people would need to buy and drive cars, and that's not great for the public's interest either.

But a fountain is something that naturally occurs. It is used in that way because it gives more water than anyone can use, but enough water for everyone in reasonable amounts. It's not just some kind of lesser evil. Trains and railroads must first be built and maintained, they are on the same level as roads and busses. I think there is a difference between providing the opportunity and giving things out for free.

You're saying public transport is on the same level as roads. Most roads are free to use because they're maintained with tax money, just like free public transport would be, because they're both in the public's interest.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#282

Post by SoftTalker »

bombcar wrote: post #277
ghaff wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

City passes are mostly a lousy deal unless you're zipping here and there all day every day. Pay per use is almost always a better deal but you need to know the particulars and get the right card/amount.

That’s the whole point. Tourists won’t really care if they spend more than they have to, and they don’t have to worry about it at all. Regulars and the price conscious will go the cheaper route.

Tourists will often just take taxis. Why fool around with figuring out the particulars of the local mass transit for a few trips over a short time.

Last time I was in Copenhagen I asked at the hotel desk how to get to the airport on public transit and the guy said just take a taxi it will be faster and much easier for you.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#283

Post by yarg »

wheels wrote: post #280
yarg wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm going to float a theory: you live in Silicon Valley and that doesn't seem like much money? I'm a suicidal burn out trying to drag my mind back from oblivion, I sure as shit am not on silicon valley money. Also: > Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. Your argument's a straw man, regardless of the fact that y…

> What's the percentage of overall income? Half of that? So low that your argument holds very little water. Yeah, about that. Do you think most working class people are flippant about costs that take 2.5% of their pre-tax income? I'm in favor of the €49/month ticket. It's a step forward. But I genuinely don't understand how (and it feels like some sort of cultural or social class disconnect) that seems trivial to peo…

When rent's 10 times as much, there's a good chance that you're focusing on the wrong thing.

Anyway, I'm out - before this degrades into a meaningless flame war.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#284

Post by alwayslikethis »

neximo64 wrote: post #177
kelnos wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? How is the idea that public transit should be publicly owned Americentric? A stereotypical/caricatured Americentric take on that would be to privatize everything.

Because its publicly owned in most places publicly (Japan, China, Europe , Australia, Russia, India, South East Asia, Africa... It seemingly is only the US & Canada where it isn't So bringing it up is very American since the comment doesn't work anywhere else.

It does not seem to be publically owned in most of Japan if I remember correctly.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#285

Post by golem14 »

cmarschner wrote: post #131
riedel wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that vending machines are really a mess. However I recommend the Deutsche Bahn Navigator App. If you have an account you can easily get most tickets. Also states like Baden-Württemberg got their act together recently and made it possible to book tickets all way through. I recently was in Netherlands trying to get from the Hague to the islands south of Rotterdam and it was also quite confusing. but the new tic…

The company that runs the DB system (HAFAS) provides this system for half of the European railways though. And, interestingly enough, also for BART. https://www.hacon.de/unternehmen/

I couldn't stop giggling for 5 minutes straight after hearing the name of this system. Brilliant!

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#286

Post by connordoner »

Mashimo wrote: post #33
_s wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With 5G speeds and unlimited data* - do you even need WiFi? Not to mention most companies nowadays have clear policies of (not) connecting to free public wifi's or even working in public spaces where your screen may be visible. * Usually the first 50gb is max speed and then it drops to 25/25 etc - which is still really fast.

> Not to mention most companies nowadays have clear policies of (not) connecting to free public wifi's or even working in public spaces where your screen may be visible. Why is that? Would a VPN not make it safe against most threat models? I mean assuming you are not working at a place where government actors are trying to target you specifically. Or can they inject something to force the VPN to disable and hope non-…

I think it’s to be taken at face value — they don’t want unauthorised people seeing what’s on screen.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#287

Post by bigyikes »

atourgates wrote: post #220
ghaff wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for visitors who may not even speak the primary language, public transit is awful in most places in terms of onboarding jet lagged visitors. Apparently no one does UX trials of people who have zero familiarity with the system and don't speak the language--though at least they maybe accommodate major Western languages. But, in general, it's pretty awful and you at least should do some research in advance.

Can confirm. I usually do a decent amount of research about public transport in our travel destinations, so I more or less know what type of tickets or passes I'll be buying ahead of time. But, last fall a flight cancellation left us with an unexpected day in Amsterdam. I guided our family through immigration and customs after an overnight flight from Canada, and then purchased what I thought were the correct tickets…

The same thing happened to me and my buddy in February.

Turns out that an “Amsterdam region” ticket does not get you back from The Hague.

We too got stuck behind the turnstiles, bewildered. We called for help through one of those intercom pole thingies and they buzzed us through.

As someone from Texas, the idea that a city 40 miles away might be in a different region hadn’t even crossed my mind :)

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#288

Post by willio58 »

ThunderSizzle wrote: post #227
willio58 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/do-guns-m... https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/essays/199... To be honest, I don't really care if you have a pistol or a shotgun even. I don't want assault rifles to be easily accessible by people who want to murder children, LTBTQ people, or whoever else is deemed each week to deserve a mass murder. I say ban all guns, or at least the guns that are d…

Evil will always exist. You can't take evil out of humanity. Many places thought they could and never succeeded (e.g. communism thought they could somehow overrule mankind's tendency towards greed) Removing guns from good people will only ensure good people will be attacked by evil people, whether inside or outside of your desired utopia.

Did you look at the papers I linked? One is about how Australia instituted a ban on guns and immediately not only saw a drop to zero mass shootings but also numerous other benefits including general murder rates dropping

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#289

Post by ghaff »

SoftTalker wrote: post #282
bombcar wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the whole point. Tourists won’t really care if they spend more than they have to, and they don’t have to worry about it at all. Regulars and the price conscious will go the cheaper route.

Tourists will often just take taxis. Why fool around with figuring out the particulars of the local mass transit for a few trips over a short time. Last time I was in Copenhagen I asked at the hotel desk how to get to the airport on public transit and the guy said just take a taxi it will be faster and much easier for you.

It depends on the city and where you're staying. Heathrow to much of central London can literally be about $100 cheaper on the tube and just as fast if you just have carryon luggage during normal times of the day. (Don't remember the situation last time I was in Copenhagen.)

I agree that tourists in an unfamiliar city will often just take a taxi by default though.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#290

Post by golem14 »

wheels wrote: post #251
tfourb wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It technically is in many places around Germany: The national railway infrastructure is owned by a government-owned entity, as is the main railway company. Many municipal public transport systems are also owned directly by the municipalities themselves, although there are also some semi-privatized systems and the national railway company also owns shares of municipal public transport systems in many major cities. Sti…

My inclination to agree that public transit should mostly be a nationalized utility. But some experience in rural areas leads me to a counterargument that I don't have a good answer for: Should people that live in urban spaces massively subsidize people that choose to live in rural areas for no economically useful reason? Like, some tech bros decide they don't want neighbors and want to live 20 km from everything. Sh…

I think this is a good question, but I'm assuming that this is happening anyways: Few constitutions have provisions forcing tech bros to live in the city. If they move to the burbs without public transit, they are being subsidized via roads and car traffic, which is arguably worse.
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