Discussion

croisillon: for the people who wouldn't have inadvertently clicked on the website: it's not real money, it's a campaign to nudge the German provider to care about their infamous delays

palata: I am pretty sure that they know about the delays. A nice thing about the Deutsche Bahn is that they exist. It's not the case in every country in the world.Sure, they can improve, but it seems possible. The French SNCF has improved a lot in the last decade, for instance.

throw899832: > A nice thing about the Deutsche Bahn is that they exist. It's not the case in every country in the world.EU does not have a train monopoly. There are other train companies in Germany (FlixTrain, OBB, BRB...). And operators from other countries can also operate there, even French SNCF!DB is blocking slots on rail, that could be used by other operators. And they are not going to change because it is Germany.

Aldipower: Oh man, det er virkelig rigtigt sjovt!!! :-D"Jurisdiction noticeFor legal reasons, all BahnBet users, their devices, and their emotional baggage are hereby classified as legal residents of Schleswig-Holstein, the only German state where gambling is fully permitted.This is non-negotiable. By creating an account, you have moved to Schleswig-Holstein. Your new postal code is 24103. You now speak rudimentary Danish."

corford: The copy on the site really is quite funny :D https://bahn.bet/about

ginkgotree: It's unfortunate what happened to DB over the years. I last rode a DB fast train in 2018. We just stopped in the middle of a field for no announced reason for 70 minutes. I missed my international flight home as a result. I haven't rode the DB since, and hear it has only gotten worse.

barrenko: Please have the option to have the website in German as well, I'd like to send it to the family.

palata: My opinion is that trains are a natural monopoly, they should belong to the government.Fine if some trains go through it (e.g. a TGV between Paris and Berlin).

zokier: I can see rails being natural monopoly, but trains?

cdrnsf: Appropriately timed given the subject of Apple's latest season of Hijack.

eigenspace: The proliferation of online gambling is IMO one of the bigger under-reported trends in modern society, and has a real potential for massive externalities throughout society.

raincole: It's all sliding slope when the only way an average citizen can reap the economic growth of their own country is stock market and saving only makes them poorer.

bulbar: Contrary to what crypto currency enthusiasts believe, having inflation (most of the time) is the only feasible and sane way for an economy.Why ever do anything at all with your money, ever, otherwise? Except for basic needs.

raincole: Saving is not 'not doing anything at all with your money.' Saving is lending your money to a generally low risk debtor, called bank.

bulbar: In a deflation based economy as invisioned by crypto currency enthusiasts, there is no incentive to lend your money to anybody. Neither a private person nor banks would have strong incentives to do that, because you have a guaranteed increase of value if you just sit on your money.No investments would take place because of that.

mft_: I was on a lovely fast smooth ICE Sprinter to Berlin last week. All was going well until they announced that the train would terminate at Erfurt (roughly half way) because… who knows?!These days, a DB journey that doesn’t involve some sort of disruption is the outlier.

maxeda: > In January 2026, Germany's federal court ruled that purchasing a Deutsche Bahn ticket constitutes a form of gambling (Glücksspiel), citing that “the probability of arriving on time is statistically comparable to a coin flip.”> Rather than contest the ruling, DBSM embraced it. If riding our trains is gambling, then passengers deserve the right to hedge.> BahnBet is our answer: a platform where you can bet against your own train, turning delays into suffering, and suffering into profit. Every minute of punctuality you lose, you can win back in deliciously valuable caßh.

ozgune: I'll save everyone a web search. This is satire and there isn't any such German federal court ruling.It also speaks to the world that we live in these days - I'm having a hard time separating satire from reality.

DocTomoe: In all fairness, being both an avid Deutsche Bahn victim (with the Gold victim status), and knowing the German court system ... that was perfectly plausible, if a bit optimistic. I'd do many, many things if I got a 50% chance of arriving on time.

mafuy: No joke: 15 years ago, when I was riding DB trains regularly, I got whole packs of refund forms. Took a while to find someone who would not refuse this request. I built a rudimentary transparent template in latex that had my name, address, etc. Pushed a whole pack into a printer to fill out most of the forms, leaving only the date and train to be manually inserted. My trains were always delayed, so this saved a lot of time.

fnordian_slip: It's incredible that about 80% of people in this thread seem to be commenting without having looked at the website.In defense of Deutsche Bahn, countries with comparable infrastructure but more reliable transport have put in about twice as much money per capita for the last 30 years at least.Also, it went through a pseudo-privatisation back then, which hasn't helped (just private enough to focus on quarterly profits by letting bridges decay so that they have to be rebuilt or repaired in a few years, just public enough that they have to serve a lot of non-lucrative areas by law).I have to admit I'm rather biased as I work there, but I would say most employees do the best they can with the hand they're dealt. It's just that politicians dealt them a really bad hand. And if Germany were to properly invest in infrastructure from now on, there's so much stuff that has to be repaired that reliability would go down even more in the next decade or so (seriously, this is not something you could fix in a year or two, even with hundreds of billions).

CaptainZapp: > In defense of Deutsche Bahn, countries with comparable infrastructure but more reliable transport have put in about twice as much money per capita for the last 30 years at least.Why is that "in defense?"When you let your infrastructure rot away since the 90s of the last century for something as complex as a train network by brutally underinvesting.Then you seriously fucked up. There's nothing to defend here.

rsynnott: Investment isn't really down to DB, though; it's down to the government.

TazeTSchnitzel: Someone wrote a satirical article in 2017 around the same concept: https://www.der-postillon.com/2017/12/bgh-bahn-gluecksspiel....

birdsongs: > You now speak rudimentary Danish."Så, norsk da. :)

Bluecobra: Mit luftpudefartøj er fyldt med ål!

Aldipower: Mine yndlingsdyr er blæksprutter og ørkenrotter ikke ål.

hermanzegerman: Because stupid people that vote blame the company and not the politicians that underinvest for years

consp: Gold status? Does that mean you only have to fill in two pages of forms instead of three for refunds?

hermanzegerman: If you actually took a train in the last 3 years you would know that the process is know online via the App/Website, and everything is already filled out for you

zelphirkalt: > I have to admit I'm rather biased as I work there, but I would say most employees do the best they can with the hand they're dealt.I think most people don't blame the normal employees. The blame is on the management layers, the "Wasserkopf", that gives themselves boni, even if things are done poorly and are going badly. A disconnect from the reality on the tracks.I don't see improvements. I rather see worse and worse reliability, even though Deutsche Bahn asks for more and more money from the government. That money is disappearing somewhere, at least partially, instead of arriving in projects for improving the situation. In many places, if not most, there isn't even a single turnout track, so that any construction work halts the whole line. Disastrous. You cannot ask people to buy train tickets for 100 to 200 EUR, and then be hours late. I mean, you can, but then you are delusional. They are not surviving because of their great product or service, they are only surviving, because people don't have good alternatives. Basically, it is extortion. In other countries I pay 1/10 of the ticket price and I arrive on friggin' time, on a much longer ride.

hermanzegerman: > I don't see improvements. I rather see worse and worse reliability, even though Deutsche Bahn asks for more and more money from the government.Maybe you should leave your home then and go take a look. Most of the Stations,tracks and signalling around me were renewed and modernized in the last 5 years. During the traffic light coalition, a huge chunk of the main lines also got modernized> That money is disappearing somewhereYes, it's "disappearing" in construction projects and new trains. You're onto something big.> You cannot ask people to buy train tickets for 100 to 200 EUR, and then be hours lateThe average train ticket price is well below 100-200€. Also have you heard of the Bahncard?> In other countries I pay 1/10 of the ticket price and I arrive on friggin' time, on a much longer rideWhat other countries are these supposed to be? I've travelled extensively around Europe, and there is hardly a country where you get the same level of comfort for the price.Even Flixtrain is rarely cheaper than DB with Bahncard50, and they run decades old junk trains without AC, and sometimes even without heating in the winterIn many places, if not most, there isn't even a single turnout track, so that any construction work halts the whole line. Disastrous.That's true, but that was the result of our moron politicians dreaming of privatising the network in the early 2000s.We should abolish the stupid structure of a publicly owned company organised like a private one, that was the result of that process back then

zelphirkalt: I find your comment disrespectful and bordering breaking HN rules.Please stop taking parts of sentences out of context when quoting, and please refrain from trying to dismiss other people's personal experiences as less valid than your subjective experience.> What other countries are these supposed to be? I've travelled extensively around Europe, and there is hardly a country where you get the same level of comfort for the price.Well, there you have it. You only consider European countries. That is quite a limited perspective. In China I can pay around 12 EUR and take a reliable high speed train, that takes me further than Germany is in size. The interior of those trains looks a bit older than ICEs in Germany, but actually offer more space for each individual passenger and allow for a more comfortable ride. The trains actually go fast (200-300km/h), not like in Germany, where it can happen, that you take an ICE train and for part of the way crawl at 30km/h. I am aware, that the comparison is not a 1 to 1 comparison, but ultimately the high speed train system there just works. Whether that is due to massive government investment or cheaper workforce, I don't debate. The result is good, reliable and cheap train service, that pays off in being way more climate-friendly, than the bad train service in Germany, that pushes people to take the car instead.But another example of how prices in Germany are insane is actually another city in Europe: Madrid. The metro system there even rivals or surpasses modern Chinese cities, because it is even simpler to use. You pay for "1 ride", only a little more than 1 EUR (I paid 11.60EUR for 10 rides), and that ride lasts until you exit the station somewhere. You can change as many times as you want, stay in the metro for hours riding back and forth, if you so desire. The moment you leave a station, you will need to scan your card and only then 1 ride is deducted from your card. It is so simple, it is a dream. Meanwhile in Germany, you pay 3-4x the price for a 1h ticket or so-and-so many stops ticket. Ridiculous.Germany did a good thing: The Germany ticket. But slowly the cost for that is creeping up. From originally 49 EUR, it is now at over 60 EUR. If this goes on, it will soon no longer be a viable choice for people, who don't take the train every day, but maybe 2-3 times a week.

amai: See also https://www.zugfinder.net/

fr3772: thats so evil...I like it :-)

anielsen: Countdown to someone pulling the emergency brake because they have a lot of money at stake

baxtr: + the conductors driving more slowly

GuB-42: It would be ironic if it turned out to improve the situation.Driving slower can make things more predictable and reduce wear, making breakdowns less likely. Trains being on time is all about consistency.

zadikian: It's easier to make money doing unexpected things

Liquid_Fire: > It's incredible that about 80% of people in this thread seem to be commenting without having looked at the website.In defence of the 80%, there is no indication in any section other than the About page that it is not real money (with the possible exception of the suspiciously high sums of money), and most commercial services have fairly useless About pages. The HN headline presents it as if it's real.A far cry from GP's implication that "inadvertently click[ing] on the website" is sufficient to see this.

zadikian: I've thought about this for flight delays because there are a lot of insiders (literally inside the plane) who would give you better info than what flight trackers show. And the airport screens are the least accurate, like showing a 20min delay for a plane that hasn't even left a previous stop 2hr away.Too bad there are obvious problems with this.

raincole: No one is talking crypto. You seem to be fixated on crypto.