# Deutsche Bahn can suck a salty sausage **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 4, 2018, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564 "2018-05-04T09:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/21 "2018-05-06T13:25:24Z")
Who would have thought that changing a fine running state-run system into a for-profit private monopoly would result in a decrease in the standards of service!? I am shocked. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/22 "2018-05-06T16:53:55Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Florence King, iirc, once observed, and I paraphrase from memory, that Americans have a capacity for getting the lessons of history turned around backward and making them words to live by: If Mussolini made the trains run on time, then this is thought to mean that late is good. :mad: > > But of course Mussolini didn’t make the trains run _entirely_ on time, and Germany isn’t Italy. This is another demonstration of my thesis that privatization always lowers quality of service, no exceptions. I always think that this is only true because passengers are used to subsidized fares and are not willing to pay a ticket that covers what their trip actually costs. Therefore the service deteriorates until it matches what people are willing to pay for it. This is not to say that it might not sometimes be a good thing to subsidize public transportation. But it does always mask to the general public what the full cost of such transportation really is. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/23 "2018-05-06T17:22:41Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > This is not to say that it might not sometimes be a good thing to subsidize public transportation. But it does always mask to the general public what the full cost of such transportation really is. Your point is well taken, but that is using a fairly narrow view of the total costs. If public transportation allows the avoidance of other costs (roads, parking, etc for private autos; the cost to individuals of owning a private vehicle; ecological impact of private vehicles; employment opportunities for low-income people who may find a private vehicle out of reach entirely), the value of that is hard (or impossible) for a private entity to capture. It seems like a sort of a tragedy of the commons things (maybe in reverse) - where benefits are not realized because there is no good market mechanism for capturing/identifying those benefits. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/24 "2018-05-06T20:38:23Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > And this is the third time I’m spending upwards of 50 bucks on a goddamn taxi because the trains cannot be relied on! > > I seriously need to get that driver’s license. I’m essentially stuck relying on something which is just completely and utterly unreliable. I strongly advise you never to take a bus anywhere in Los Angeles. Or attempt to find a train that goes anywhere near your destination. Or even hire a taxi. Or survive here at all for any length of time without a driver’s license. (Seriously, some city folk elsewhere don’t have a driver’s license? For real? How is that even possible?) > [@Chefguy](#): > > You had roads? Why, in Alaska, we didn’t even have trails. Aren’t there some towns in Alaska where pizza is delivered by airplane? ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/25 "2018-05-06T20:51:01Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I misremembered my (rudimentary) German for a second there, and thought you had started a thread complaining about Teutonic bathtubs. That’s bad. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/26 "2018-05-06T21:28:55Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I always think that this is only true because passengers are used to subsidized fares and are not willing to pay a ticket that covers what their trip actually costs. Therefore the service deteriorates until it matches what people are willing to pay for it. > > This is not to say that it might not sometimes be a good thing to subsidize public transportation. But it does always mask to the general public what the full cost of such transportation really is. Oh god, train fares… British fares are ‘charmingly eccentric’ aka devised by some drunken cackling maniac throwing darts at a board covered in random numbers. Last week, I booked a train trip from my little town on the West coast of England to one on the East. It’s a complicated trip; the first train is to London, then the tube to a different London station, second train to a regional large town, then a third train to the final little town. The total fare for that was £42. It’s an 8 hour trip, fare includes the tube connection. Perfectly reasonable. If I’d got the train before- 8 hours, same changes, it would have been £150. If I just bought a ticket to London- 3 hours- same as the first leg _on the same train I booked_, it’d be £43. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/27 "2018-05-06T22:19:51Z")
ahh I see they picked up on how southern California prices its commuter train systems … the price can vary every few hours … like from 4-9 am from here to LA’s train station which is maybe 50-80 minutes long is 8.50 from 9am -2 pm it can go as low 4.50 then it goes back up to 8.50 until about 6 pm then back down for the last two trains that’s just for the way there … it can get even more expensive on the way from LA to here And just so you cant be a wise guy the tickets expire about 90 minutes from the time of purchase unless you’re on the train (so if you have to go past/ or switch trains at union station your price still stands ) EDIt:those pirces were from 8 years ago when I last used it … ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/28 "2018-05-06T22:28:01Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I misremembered my (rudimentary) German for a second there, and thought you had started a thread complaining about Teutonic bathtubs. > [@SaneBill](#): > > That’s bad. But it comes with a free frogurt! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/29 "2018-05-07T05:00:37Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > This is not to say that it might not sometimes be a good thing to subsidize public transportation. But it does always mask to the general public what the full cost of such transportation really is. On the other hand, if we got rid of all the subsidies on private transportation in the US, half the cars would be off the roads and mass transit infrastructure would have a much larger customer base to support its major improvements. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/30 "2018-05-15T04:42:19Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Florence King, iirc, once observed, and I paraphrase from memory, that Americans have a capacity for getting the lessons of history turned around backward and making them words to live by: If Mussolini made the trains run on time, then this is thought to mean that late is good. :mad: To be fair about it, I’ve never heard anyone make that assertion in earnest. > [@](#): > > But of course Mussolini didn’t make the trains run _entirely_ on time, and Germany isn’t Italy. This is another demonstration of my thesis that privatization always lowers quality of service, no exceptions. DB certainly does seem to have some serious problems these days. Just a day or two ago I was reading about head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train. And I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of German trains being late. It’s been many years since I lived there for a year, but back then you could set your watch by the trains. The stations all had the large white clocks on the platforms, with sweep second hands. They were impossible not to notice from inside the trains, which always left between five and ten seconds into the minute. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/31 "2018-05-15T05:30:41Z")
Reported my own post #30 for quote formatting fix. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/32 "2018-05-15T22:55:14Z")
My current public transit beef is that the local transit agency changed the bus schedule, so I can no longer take the bus home from the train station, after I get back from my evening class in the next town over. Now I have to drive to the station and leave my car there, whereas before I had the opportunity for a nice two mile walk with a meaningful destination. Nice job in getting people out from behind their steering wheels, NCTD! ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/33 "2018-05-16T11:17:15Z")
And big surprise, on the way back to drop her off at the bus station, the entire Munich central line was down - we had to walk. Thankfully, not a long walk, but if we hadn’t chanced upon this information and had left so that we were merely half an hour early instead of well over an hour, we probably would have missed the bus. Seriously, when people say “as reliable as Deutsche Bahn” that is definitely an insult at this point. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/34 "2018-05-17T01:51:14Z")
“Deutsche Bahn AG’ (abbreviated as DB, DB AG or DBAG) is a German railway company. Headquartered in Berlin, it is a private joint-stock company (AG), with the Federal Republic of Germany being its single shareholder.[2][3] ” > **[Deutsche Bahn](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bahn)** > > The Deutsche Bahn AG (IPA: \[ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈbaːn\]; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company (AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. > Deutsche Bahn describes itself as the second-largest transport company in the world, after the German postal and logistics company Deutsche Post / DHL, and is the largest railway operator and infrastructure owner in Europe. Deutsche Bahn was the l... Statists gonna state. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/35 "2018-06-01T01:35:16Z")
Who decided to privatize DB? Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564/36 "2018-06-01T07:19:46Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Who decided to privatize DB? Short answer, those responsible for German re-unification. Since the railroad system had to be restructured anyway due to the merging in of the East German railways, they decided to cut losses by outsourcing the whole mess to the private sector. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deutsche-bahn-can-suck-a-salty-sausage/813564.md?page=1)