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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

#371

Post by bakuninsbart »

throwaway60607 wrote: post #158
patall wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is complex about the B/C border? That Hönow is B? Because else, it is literary the federal state border. A/B is the S-Bahn-Ring. Sure, three zones are not super simple and where zone C ends is somewhat arbitrary. But aside from that, it's the most logical and simple solution possible.

Do you mean that the airport is outside of Germany? Or what else is "federal state border"? And what is a S-Bahn ring anyways? I visit Germany often and yet this makes no sense to me. Don't assume it's so simple for everyone.

Federal in the American sense is a bit of a false friend for Germans: It means basically the same, but Americans use it to signify the unity of the states, while Germans talk about the states of the Union. So if we say federal borders we actually mean state borders and would otherwise say national or country borders.

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

#372

Post by panick21_ »

pjmlp wrote: post #242
panick21_ wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its kind of ridiculous to call it a luxury issue. Its a luxury issue if you make it one. In Switzerland 85 year old grandmothers travel between cities to go for light walks. 15 year olds go to football tournaments in other cities. Claiming that only some elite cast of digital nomads profits from it is utterly ridiculous. In Switzerland city to city travel is more common with trains then with cars, and a huge part of…

Also most people end up buying demi-tarif card, to make travel affordable. Although a great thing of Swiss trains used to be being able to switch trains quite easily between destinations, regardless of the train type. No idea if that is still a thing nowadays.

> No idea if that is still a thing nowadays.

Yes very much so. Not just trains, buses, ships and so on.

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

#373

Post by panick21_ »

woodpanel wrote: post #331
panick21_ wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its kind of ridiculous to call it a luxury issue. Its a luxury issue if you make it one. In Switzerland 85 year old grandmothers travel between cities to go for light walks. 15 year olds go to football tournaments in other cities. Claiming that only some elite cast of digital nomads profits from it is utterly ridiculous. In Switzerland city to city travel is more common with trains then with cars, and a huge part of…

Switzerland is barely a ninth of Germany‘s size in square meters and population. Plus, the whole German Intercity Rail System‘s north south axis goes through 2 choke points: Frankfurt and northern Bavaria.

> Switzerland is barely a ninth of Germany‘s size in square meters and population.

So its basically scales linearly. More land, more population. With the same tax spending there is no reason that Switzerland should be able to do anything that Germany is not able to do.

Nothing you said changes the fact that between cities you used to have different tariff systems and that people regularly travel between them.

The distance from Genf to Zürich is the same distance as many cities in Germany. Again, claiming its a luxury to go the the city 200-300km away is nonsense.

Just saying 'Germany is larger' isn't an argument, it doesn't change anything.

> goes through 2 choke points

So your excuse is that Germany is bad at planning and building their rail systems?

Switzerland has and had chock points to and yet that isn't actually a problem.

The reality is Germany has much better geography for rail compared to Switzerland.

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

#374

Post by lispm »

snvzz wrote: post #346
lispm wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called 'Social'. Those who are stronger contribute to the society more.

Or leave the country, because they're treated badly despite their higher contributions.

The new ticket for Germany makes everyone happy. No-one will leave the country because of that. In this moment I'm using it here in Munich, I paid the full price. I'm happy, even though I'm also highly taxed. It's progress to give everybody the option for affordable and simple public transport throughout Germany.

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

#375

Post by yurishimo »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #174

The Netherlands also has something similar: a country-wide public transit card. You put money on the card and then you can use it for all forms of public transport, checking in and out using that card. When it was introduced there was a lot of skepticism about whether it's a good thing, but now 10-15 years later I can't imagine not having it. Likewise, there's a country-wide public transit planner, 9292.nl. It works…

We do have a single transit card, but the cost is outrageous imo. To travel 25km from Weert to Eindhoven in the south costs €6.70 one way during "rush hour". So to commute to work, I need to pay €13.40 per day, not included the bus transfer from the central station to my office (another few euros).

Now before you mention it, yes I know employers have to pay for transportation to and from work, but that doesn't solve the problem for self employed people or visitors/tourists or occasional travelers.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I wanted to go to Den Bosch to see some friends. It was cheaper and faster to drive from the edge of Limburg to Den Bosch & pay for fuel/parking than it was to take the train from our local station (for 2 people). I can live with the extra time required, but the cost was too much.

If the government wants to incentivize more train travel, I shouldn't need to pay for than the cost of a many eurozone plane tickets to travel from Eindhoven to Amsterdam by train.

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

#376

Post by panick21_ »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #352
panick21_ wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You don't need too long training to be qualified to drive an ambulance or perform CPR. At least not here. Teenagers are quite smart and quick learners if you treat them well. What? I did civil service in Switzerland and while there are some jobs that require CPR courses to be done before hand, in non is it actually expected that you need it regularly. And for absolutely sure will they not let 18 year old drive ambu…

https://www.roteskreuz.at/steiermark/knittelfeld/zivildienst... https://www.tips.at/nachrichten/linz/leben/550309-zivildiene...

Neither of these are drivers as far as I can tell.

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

#377

Post by jillesvangurp »

cyberpunk wrote: post #51
jillesvangurp wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because network coverage in Germany is pretty bad, so you are mostly out of reach from networks when traveling by train. It's gotten better over the years since I moved here. But I'm basically still offline 80% of the journey between Berlin and my parents place in the Netherlands. As soon as you cross the border into NL, it's fine. It's a German issue. You have this effect on all its borders. You travel to the border…

What network are you with? This doesn't match my experience -- I've traveled around 35,000km on trains inside Germany in the last few years, and apart from one 5 minute section just outside of Berlin when going SE dresden, I've pretty much always had a full signal. YMMV I guess. But I just wanted to say that I don't think this is completely accurate.

O2. I never have a full signal outside of cities. I've seen the coverage metrics as well that back that up. Here's a pretty good resource for that:

https://www.nperf.com/en/map/DE/-/187893.O2-Mobile/signal/?l...

The track between Berlin, Hannover, Osnabruck is particularly bad. You get some connectivity near those cities but most of the way my phone is useless.

Telekom is better but they too have issues in the country side. I also encounter this issue professionally with our customers as we sell a SAAS app that our customers have to use on site and a disturbingly large number of our customers have either very poor or no connectivity as they tend to be on the edges of cities or in the middle of nowhere. Which in Germany means forget about 5G and hope for the best with a 3G/4G connection with one or two bars if you are standing next to a window. It's a specifically German problem, other countries in the EU have more modern infrastructure.

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

#378

Post by Symbiote »

ghaff wrote: post #292
Symbiote wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In London, aren't you pushed towards using a contactless credit or debit card? (They expire at 4am, though the point remains.)

Oyster cards still seem to be pretty common though I think you can use contactless credit cards in a lot of situations these these days.

Commuters with monthly or longer tickets will need to use an Oyster card, but anyone with only weekly, daily or individual tickets is fine with a contactless credit card.

I think only foreign tourists who don't have a credit/debit card, or whose banks levy a high, fixed charge per card transaction, or who are eligible for some other discount (foreign children age 5-17) should buy an Oyster card.

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

#379

Post by mejutoco »

cbmuser wrote: post #159
mejutoco wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The announcement mentions you do need it when announcing the stop. By then it is prob too late, though. If you use the bvg app it tells you which ticket you need for any destination, but non-locals might not know that.

> The announcement mentions you do need it when announcing the stop. By then it is prob too late, though. Not on all lines. If I remember correctly, I have only heard it on the new announcements for the BER airport. And, they actually tell you on time so you have a chance to buy an extension ticket.

It is pretty good, but on time here means to leave the wagon to buy a ticket and take the next train (unless you buy it on the app).

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

#380

Post by illiac786 »

cbmuser wrote: post #171
solarkraft wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overcrowding is the best thing that could happen, we need more public transport users as quickly as possible. Then, of course, the guy in charge who doesn't know how road signs work would have to take care of spending further investments, which is probably going to accidentally land in car infrastructure.

> Overcrowding is the best thing that could happen, we need more public transport users as quickly as possible. Unless the capacity of public transport grows as well, no. > Then, of course, the guy in charge who doesn't know how road signs work would have to take care of spending further investments, which is probably going to accidentally land in car infrastructure. Roads aren't just for cars but also trucks which a…

Previous poster obviously meant "overcrowding is the fastest / most efficient way to get more capacity", that was implicit yet obvious to me.

You may agree or not with this point but answering beside the point is not helpful.

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