I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train • Hacker News Board

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#361

Post by temporarara » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:32 PM UTC

pixxel wrote: post #310

lillecarl wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ending up at "random" train stations at weird times with all your experience belongings

He sounds like a confident young man; not one who quivers at the thought of travelling.

Being a confident young man can be pretty disastrous if you end up in wrong place wrong time. "The world is my oyster" levels of confidence can get you in trouble really fast. Not that it is the most likely scenario in Germany, but it is not a place where you can completely drop your guards everywhere all the time. Though I guess he is aware of the risks and acts accordingly.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#362

Post by willyt » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:33 PM UTC

cool_dude85 wrote: post #292

willyt wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also in the UK the way the railway system is set up is incredibly inefficient and bureaucratic so it costs us a lot more to run our system and build improvements than comparable EU countries. The railways were privatised for ideological reasons seemingly by people who didn't actually understand free markets. The privatisation was done in way that generated a lot of complicated contractual interfaces between a network…

>That is why we have a system where a ~350 mile journey from London to Glasgow takes more than twice as long and typically costs more than twice as much for half the legroom compared to a ~350 mile journey from Paris to Bordeaux. Just for my own interest as an American, I can take a 350 mile journey on a train from where I live (Jacksonville, FL) to Miami. There are two trains a day, one of which takes 11 hours and c…

London-Glasgow takes about 4h45m typically with about 7 stops. There's a train every hour between from 5am until about 6pm. Today the 5:30pm train is full, the 6:30 is £119 (€140) for a single ticket 2nd class. If you are more than 6'2" tall your knees will be wedged against the seat in front of you like on a budget airline, the ride quality on the train is too bumpy to be able to use a mouse or trackpad accurately with a laptop, you will struggle to select paragraphs of text. There is not really enough room to use a laptop anyway if you haven't booked a table. If you need to work, it will be necessary to upgrade to 1st class this costs £270 (€315). There is also a persistent fault with the toilets on this type of train that means sometimes there is a strong toilet smell.

Paris-Bordeaux takes 2h05m and is non-stop. If I go online now the next train is at 6:30pm and costs €60 2nd class. There is a non-stop train roughly every hour and there are also trains that stop 2-3 times that take about 3h but are a bit cheaper. The 2nd class seat is spacious your legs are about 5" from the seat in front and there is a table with enough space to comfortably use a laptop which has an individual socket and usb charging point per person. The ride quality is very smooth, you can easily use a laptop trackpad or mouse accurately enough to do CAD work, you wouldn't realise that you are travelling at 200mph. Edit: 1st class is available for €72 and did I mention that the train is double decker? it's just a lot cooler. Another edit: There are quite a few trains tomorrow with tickets for €29 and one train with a ticket for €12.50

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#363

Post by selimthegrim » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:34 PM UTC

octopusRex wrote: post #220

arethuza wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My commute into Edinburgh is about 35 mins each way by train and it's £9.60 for a return (reduced for a bit because of a subsidy by the Scottish Government) normal price is about £15.00.

I'm in the US. We wanted a commuter train in my city - instead we got a very expensive toll lane built by a Spanish company. The tolls are so expensive by the mile that only the wealthy or those with a business that can write them off as an expense use the lane. If the company doesn't make enough, our taxes have to pay for the shortfall.

Is this Dallas or Houston?

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#364

Post by account-5 » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:37 PM UTC

Not possible in the UK. In the UK every year the charge more for reduced services.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#365

Post by Prcmaker » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:45 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #37

Daviey wrote: post #5

Compared to the UK where a standard-class rail season ticket for me to get to London (including underground), at £8,272 p/y.. but for that, I also have the luxury of either standing in an overcrowded carriage, or if I am super lucky I get to sit in a seat that smells of urine.

If you're just commuting like a normal person, there's also the Deutschlandticket, all* public transport for €49/month. * including ferries, busses, underground, but also has exceptions that don't matter for normal commuting such as "no intercity express" and "a seat isn't guaranteed".

Damn, 49euro/month seems downright reasonable. I used to pay more, a decade ago, for a student ticket in Australia.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#366

Post by dannyobrien » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:47 PM UTC

flohofwoe wrote: post #255

JonChesterfield wrote: post #84

Sounds alright really. Less dystopian than living in Google's car park. Doesn't work with dog or family and I'm not sure about being stuck near train stations at destinations, folding bicycle would improve things. Not remotely surprised that he's a programmer. This is essentially living subsidised by the train company who didn't expect someone to take an unlimited train ticket quite that literally. One guy doing this…

> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips": https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse . Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance). I guess he's eating the additional cost for a 1…

Are you in a rent-controlled apartment? It seems an ok price for a single room available now, but not an easy price to get for a new arrival in Berlin.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#367

Post by Cheer2171 » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:48 PM UTC

truculent wrote: post #254

jstummbillig wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that is true (if you don't have a seat reservation) you are prohibited from occupying more than one seat per DB ToS. "Each passenger is only allowed to occupy one seat [...] Passengers who behave contrary to the above regulations, ignore the instructions of employees or otherwise pose a threat to safety and order can be excluded from transport or further transport without entitlement to reimbursement of the far…

Is he really occupying more than one seat if there’s nobody else there to take the remainder?

Literally yes he is. You can argue about whether this should be enforced, but by the text of the contract, it is not allowed.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#368

Post by cool_dude85 » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:51 PM UTC

willyt wrote: post #362

cool_dude85 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That is why we have a system where a ~350 mile journey from London to Glasgow takes more than twice as long and typically costs more than twice as much for half the legroom compared to a ~350 mile journey from Paris to Bordeaux. Just for my own interest as an American, I can take a 350 mile journey on a train from where I live (Jacksonville, FL) to Miami. There are two trains a day, one of which takes 11 hours and c…

London-Glasgow takes about 4h45m typically with about 7 stops. There's a train every hour between from 5am until about 6pm. Today the 5:30pm train is full, the 6:30 is £119 (€140) for a single ticket 2nd class. If you are more than 6'2" tall your knees will be wedged against the seat in front of you like on a budget airline, the ride quality on the train is too bumpy to be able to use a mouse or trackpad accurately w…

Thanks for the reply. For what it's worth if you're ever in the US, Amtrak does offer very spacious seating and often enough you'll have your part of the row to yourself. Probably comparable to flying first class, I'd say.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#369

Post by carlmr » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:51 PM UTC

flohofwoe wrote: post #295

pdpi wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In his position, train robberies aren't the first problem that comes to mind. Just somebody stealing my backpack with all my earthly possessions.

Statistically still quite unlikely I guess, and in any case, he would know better than any of us because he's the one who slept exclusively on trains for 1.5 years ;)

How is it unlikely, i know plenty of people personally that had something stolen in the high speed train in Germany while they weren't looking. And he's sleeping in the train every day.

Re: I spend £8,500 a year to live on a train

#370

Post by JansjoFromIkea » Tue, Mar 05, 2024, 5:56 PM UTC

seba_dos1 wrote: post #355

me_me_me wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

7714 per year is 600 per month €600/month In Dublin would get you a 1m2 closet and shit bucket

You can get a one-time train ticket from Dublin to a cheaper place for a fraction of that.

€600 doesn't stretch very far anywhere in Ireland these days; you'd struggle to find a room for a fraction of 600 in a location where you can walk to a train to Dublin. Mightn't be possible at all tbh.