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How I got 100% off my train travel

readbunce.com

31–40 of 240 posts

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#31
In Germany you can use

https://bahnvorhersage.de

It is meant to be used to find reliable connections, but of course you can use it to save money as described in the article.

Here is the 38c3 talk about the project from one the creators:

https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-wann-klappt-der-anschluss-wann-n...

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#32
post #27

> Avanti West Coast offers customers: > 15 minutes — 25% off > 30 minutes — 50% off > 1 hour + — 100% off To me they look like very generous refund policies. I checked Italy's Trenitalia and what they offer is[1]: > 30-119 minutes: 25% > 120+ minutes: 50% I suppose anything below 30 minutes is consideres "on time". [1] https://www.trenitalia.com/it/informazioni/indennizzo_per_ri...

> I suppose anything below 30 minutes is consideres "on time".

sounds about right for the stereotype. it's the 'murikans that are the ones so uptight about time

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#33
post #25
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could say the same about rail infrastructure, but you cannot use private vehicles there (legally).

You actually can, but the hassle is expensive. You have to coordinate it with the railroad and the controller and you have to provide a locomotive and an engineer and on and on and on, but you can do it.

For heavy rail, yes. For light rail, that is more likely to have been built with local funds, is this actually a thing --- I'm sure if you work with the film commission, but I would be surprised if any light rail systems have a plan for private vehicles.

Amtrak will pull your private rail car in the right conditions, too https://www.amtrak.com/privately-owned-rail-cars

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you travel in and around the South East, inc. London the service is pretty good, regular although still very very expensive. In the north though it’s a mixed bag, frequently delayed, huge underinvestment, expensive etc.

Note that when an English person says the north, they expect everyone to know they are talking specifically about the north of England, not the north of the UK even if everyone else is talking about the UK.

Though Scotrail was just as bad for many years, so it was a bit of a moot point until a few years ago.

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#35
post #8

The UK train system is a dire, expensive mess. Attempting to avoid getting directly political here, but I strongly believe it’s one of the lowest hanging fruit a political party could act on to curry favour with the electorate. Would be amazing to see this productised à la the way split ticketing works.

I agree that it's a dire , expensive mess. But it doesn't seem like low hanging fruit at all...

Anything that will improve the situation will be expensive and/or take a long time to achieve.

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#36
post #27

> Avanti West Coast offers customers: > 15 minutes — 25% off > 30 minutes — 50% off > 1 hour + — 100% off To me they look like very generous refund policies. I checked Italy's Trenitalia and what they offer is[1]: > 30-119 minutes: 25% > 120+ minutes: 50% I suppose anything below 30 minutes is consideres "on time". [1] https://www.trenitalia.com/it/informazioni/indennizzo_per_ri...

I commuted via train for years when I lived in Chicago and a refund policy like Italy's definitely would've been amazing. Perhaps the trains would be more reliable with refunds, all we received was a late slip when the train was delayed by 2 hours..

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#37

This seems the perfect setup for malicious compliance of arbitrary RTO policies. * You may very well be more productive on a quiet train than a noisy office * Inconsistent WiFi coverage could let you focus on work instead of video conferencing meetings * Arriving late means you don’t have to stay long - not your fault the train was delayed, after all! Your employer gets the badge data showing you technically showed u…

Does it work that way where you are from? Here in Germany it is entirely the workers responsibility to arrive on time, being repeatedly late can lead to being fired. Usually everyone knows how bad the trains are and it's not enforced strictly but thats just the employers good will.

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you travel in and around the South East, inc. London the service is pretty good, regular although still very very expensive. In the north though it’s a mixed bag, frequently delayed, huge underinvestment, expensive etc.

Note that when an English person says the north, they expect everyone to know they are talking specifically about the north of England, not the north of the UK even if everyone else is talking about the UK.

It's a very moveable dividing line depending on where the speaker is from, there's no Mason-Dixon line here. Can mean anywhere north of London.

No normal person refers to Scotland as "north UK" when they could say Scotland, though.

Re: How I got 100% off my train travel

#40
post #27

> Avanti West Coast offers customers: > 15 minutes — 25% off > 30 minutes — 50% off > 1 hour + — 100% off To me they look like very generous refund policies. I checked Italy's Trenitalia and what they offer is[1]: > 30-119 minutes: 25% > 120+ minutes: 50% I suppose anything below 30 minutes is consideres "on time". [1] https://www.trenitalia.com/it/informazioni/indennizzo_per_ri...

> I suppose anything below 30 minutes is consideres "on time". sounds about right for the stereotype. it's the 'murikans that are the ones so uptight about time

I think by and large this doesn’t play out with trains. American trains tend to be much less frequent, slower, and less comfortable than most European trains.

I road a swiss train a couple years ago that was something like 5 minutes late. To me (American) it was “on time” but the conductor came on the PA and apologized. He did make a point to clarify the delay was because they’d been stuck behind an off schedule German train.

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