At this point I'm literally surprised when my train arrives in time. Recently I took one and even the train personnel went like "We will arrive 1 minute early, no idea how that happened".
At least it means you can almost always calculate with some partial refund😂
Ya know, I think that's better than striving for perfect punctuality. Wouldn't want my 11:23 arriving train to be late by 3 minutes and my 11:25 leaving connection train to be punctual. Shit happens and there's always going to be one or two trains that are late.
If they are really late they always arrive within 59 minutes at their destination so I can't get a 25% refund. They are really good at not surpassing that one hour.
To work around that, just need to book a connection where the last train only goes once an hour (or every 30 minutes or something) with a connecting time of like 10 minutes. Then you can claim a refund even if the original train is delayed for less than one hour.
Remember: The relevant part is the total delay at the destination, not delays of individual trains.
I spotted a GB rail company doing something similar, doing a really unhelpful cancellation to one busy train mid-journey and replacement with an unplanned extra service ten minutes later, all so that a delayed earlier train could get ahead of it and try to avoid falling an hour behind schedule and triggering a higher rate of refunds for its passengers! Meanwhile, the cancelled train passengers all end up ten minutes late which causes no refunds unless they miss a transfer.
Yeah, it's really getting to the point where this isn't tolerable any more. I make 4-6 long distance trip per year and you basically can't make plans without adding in hours of buffer time to account for potential delays.
One of my connections earlier this year was so fucked up, a scheduled 4h journey took me almost 9h. That's when I finally snapped and just took the plane.
They are more punctual, takes me half the total travel time ... and isn't even that much more expensive. The biggest problem is that you have to rely in the trains to get to the airport ....
I wish the German populace could actually hold their government more accountable than guilt-smearing those who took flights instead of the shabby train service torment available in their country simply because they wanted mobility guarantee. That shouldn't have been at the expense of some general people who just want to move from A to B with certain reliability on how their time should be used.
Flights are indeed environmentally terrible. But what better, affordable, time-wise reliable alternatives does this country have to offer? It's not viable that money keeps being poured into the car or plane industry while travellers are blamed for not choosing overpriced yet late or even cancelled trains. Travelling less can work for optional trips but some journeys are just not optional.
Above 50% is better than below 50%. Therefore, pure success. Congratulations DB AG executive board! You really earned the bonus and some extras this year. What would we do without your endless commitment and efforts. /s
As an American, it's really weird hearing the German trains are not on time. I always looked to Germany to be perfectly punctual. (And no, that's not a WWII jibe.)
I know. But given that German long distance trains were on time only slightly above 50% of the time 1, which even gives up to 6 minutes leeway, I think we can agree that those stereotypes are not necessarily rooted in reality. If we were to hold German trains to Japanese standards the rating would likely be quite abysmal.
39 Comments
ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world · 64 pts · 249d
I have an idea how to fix this. First, we're going to give 5 billion to the auto industry.
Bademantel@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 249d
Don't forget to complain about China while you're at it, though. They subsidize their electric car industry. So unfair!!
ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 249d
Never said that's better.
Bademantel@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 249d
I didn't mean to imply that you did. I just can't stand the hypocrisy of German politicians that use this rhetoric.
FooBarrington@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 248d
Hm... It's suspicious you haven't mentioned any money going to Bavaria. Are you one of them dirty Greens?
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 248d
Well part of that 5 billion is going to the Bavarian Motor Works
python@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 249d
Okay but does this statistic include the trains that never arrived? Because DB loves doing that in all their other statistics.
edit: I read the article. It does not. Classic DB haha
CosmoNova@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 249d
I took two trains in November and both were late.
Eril@feddit.org · 9 pts · 249d
At this point I'm literally surprised when my train arrives in time. Recently I took one and even the train personnel went like "We will arrive 1 minute early, no idea how that happened". At least it means you can almost always calculate with some partial refund😂
jenesaisquoi@feddit.org · 6 pts · 249d
Classic DB experience
Flipper@feddit.org · 14 pts · 248d
Fun fact: the dB doesn't necessarily optimise for punctuality but rather for passengers catching their connection.
That means a punctual train may wait for a train, which is late. Now you've got two delayed trains but the passengers caught their connection.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 248d
Ya know, I think that's better than striving for perfect punctuality. Wouldn't want my 11:23 arriving train to be late by 3 minutes and my 11:25 leaving connection train to be punctual. Shit happens and there's always going to be one or two trains that are late.
Nalivai@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 248d
Local transport that isn't operated by DB is usually punctual to the minute.
DirtPuddleMisfortune@feddit.org · 1 pts · 247d
That's interesting. Never thought about that.
gigachad@piefed.social · 12 pts · 249d
If they are really late they always arrive within 59 minutes at their destination so I can't get a 25% refund. They are really good at not surpassing that one hour.
Eril@feddit.org · 12 pts · 249d
To work around that, just need to book a connection where the last train only goes once an hour (or every 30 minutes or something) with a connecting time of like 10 minutes. Then you can claim a refund even if the original train is delayed for less than one hour. Remember: The relevant part is the total delay at the destination, not delays of individual trains.
mjr@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 249d
I spotted a GB rail company doing something similar, doing a really unhelpful cancellation to one busy train mid-journey and replacement with an unplanned extra service ten minutes later, all so that a delayed earlier train could get ahead of it and try to avoid falling an hour behind schedule and triggering a higher rate of refunds for its passengers! Meanwhile, the cancelled train passengers all end up ten minutes late which causes no refunds unless they miss a transfer.
remon@ani.social · 9 pts · 249d
Yeah, it's really getting to the point where this isn't tolerable any more. I make 4-6 long distance trip per year and you basically can't make plans without adding in hours of buffer time to account for potential delays.
One of my connections earlier this year was so fucked up, a scheduled 4h journey took me almost 9h. That's when I finally snapped and just took the plane.
They are more punctual, takes me half the total travel time ... and isn't even that much more expensive. The biggest problem is that you have to rely in the trains to get to the airport ....
Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org · 5 pts · 249d
Not for you, but for all of us. Flying is absolutely terrible for the environment.
remon@ani.social · 2 pts · 249d
Yeah, but the trains are absolutely terrible for my mental health ... and that could get expensive, too!
Legwarmer1411@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 248d
I wish the German populace could actually hold their government more accountable than guilt-smearing those who took flights instead of the shabby train
servicetorment available in their country simply because they wanted mobility guarantee. That shouldn't have been at the expense of some general people who just want to move from A to B with certain reliability on how their time should be used.Flights are indeed environmentally terrible. But what better, affordable, time-wise reliable alternatives does this country have to offer? It's not viable that money keeps being poured into the car or plane industry while travellers are blamed for not choosing overpriced yet late or even cancelled trains. Travelling less can work for optional trips but some journeys are just not optional.
zolar@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 249d
Above 50% is better than below 50%. Therefore, pure success. Congratulations DB AG executive board! You really earned the bonus and some extras this year. What would we do without your endless commitment and efforts. /s
shalafi@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 248d
As an American, it's really weird hearing the German trains are not on time. I always looked to Germany to be perfectly punctual. (And no, that's not a WWII jibe.)
Chais@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 248d
You're thinking of Japan.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 248d
There are also stereotypes of Germans being really punctual and law-abiding.
Chais@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 248d
I know. But given that German long distance trains were on time only slightly above 50% of the time 1, which even gives up to 6 minutes leeway, I think we can agree that those stereotypes are not necessarily rooted in reality. If we were to hold German trains to Japanese standards the rating would likely be quite abysmal.
tomi000@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 248d
Trains are not the only thing that can be on time
Pamasich@kbin.earth · 1 pts · 247d
More likely thinking of Switzerland, since we're neighbors and speak the same language (kind of). So it's easier to conflate us.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 249d
The fun thing is that most delays not caused by unplannable events like accidents or broken down trains.
Jumi@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 249d
If I have to change trains at all I'm either not going or try to get a car somewhere.
mjr@infosec.pub · 0 pts · 249d
That's odd. What's your problem with moving between trains?
Jumi@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 248d
What do you think?
mjr@infosec.pub · 0 pts · 248d
Should have said you're in Germany!
Jumi@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 248d
The article is about the DB though?
mjr@infosec.pub · 0 pts · 248d
Sure but that doesn't mean every comment is only about DB.
ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 248d
It just adds more points of failure to the trip. One train being late (which as you see is quite common) ruins the rest.
mjr@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 248d
So add some connection time. And not everywhere is as bad as DB.
ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 248d
But this topic is about DB…
MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 247d
All I know about German trains are from Jetlag The Game.