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| A break from public transportation |
Why is public transportation actually called public transportation? Because it’s accessible, affordable, and available to everyone? Or because it takes you from A to B? Whenever that may be. At least in Germany, public transportation is definitely not on time. And it’s worth noting that the lack of punctuality gets worse and worse as the day goes on. If things go really badly, the “B” just drops out because the connections run out. Well, tough luck. After all, public transit operators, especially the Deutsche Bundesbahn, aren’t responsible for such things. That would be the last straw. What else is the Deutsche Bahn supposed to take responsibility for? It already does so for the rail network and the train infrastructure. However, the rail network is completely overloaded. Too many trains, too few tracks. Only those in charge know why that is. All the user gets to hear are the many apologies that pour out over the loudspeaker during a train ride, directed at the helpless passenger. That is, if the loudspeaker system on the train or on the platform is even working. “Due to a train ahead, your departure time is delayed by a few minutes.” or “Welcome to the Regio 75. Your scheduled departure time of 8:15 p.m. will be delayed by 20 minutes today. We apologize for the inconvenience.” As if you had any other choice. With the “DB App”—these days, most communication happens through an app—you can see how the train schedules are slowly falling apart. It starts with a simple notice in the morning that the train has been shortened by one car. Low ridership is expected. In reality, the platform is packed to the brim. At least two cars have been set aside for bike transport. Since today is a holiday, they’ve at least accounted for the cyclists trying to protect their bikes from the crowds. With one car missing, the crowd now tries to squeeze through the remaining doors to snag a seat. That takes time, and so a one-minute delay in departure time slowly adds up over the course of the day to the next connection, and trains pile up on the tracks. To prevent the system from completely collapsing, long-distance trains are given priority. That, in turn, has disastrous consequences for local transport, which literally shatters punctuality as well as your connecting services. On the app, the connection times then switch from green to red. When coordination between the train you’re currently on and your connecting train has completely gone off the rails, the app displays the message: “Connecting train likely no longer reachable.” As if there were actually still a chance of catching it after all. In fact, as a user, you cling to that possibility right until the very end. Since the alternative—freezing on a cold platform and waiting for a delayed connecting train, if one even shows up—isn’t exactly the kind of thing that puts you in high spirits. And even the what feels like tenth apology you’ve heard over the loudspeaker that day doesn’t help anymore. Especially since you’re then snapped at by the person—a ‘it’—for listening to the waiting time you’re passing on your phone only through headphones. I refrained from commenting; after all, with people like that, you run the risk of being reported for using the wrong pronoun. In the end, the holiday trip to the tranquil Allgäu turned into a seven-hour adventure on Deutsche Bahn. Navigating the “DB app” is more thrilling than any Steven Spielberg horror movie, and getting off the train when the automatic doors fail is quite a feat of athleticism, but I’ve complied with the request to forgive all of this. After all, I had a great day with my family in the Allgäu, whom I hadn’t seen in 12 years. Well, time flies—and not just on the Deutsche Bundesbahn.
May you always have fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.
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