[ilikerashers]

German trains are absolute chaos. Tickets are sent via PDF for trains running 3 hours late. I was in Frankfurt last year getting to Cologne and back a few times.

Coming from someone who has to commute via South Western railway into London everyday.

Sad state of affairs for Germany.

[NikxDa]

German trains have very much to complain about, but honestly, their customer facing IT is pretty good. I've not had to deal with PDF tickets nor printed tickets in years.

The website and app work well, in my experience. It's all pretty sleek and modern, too. It's the one area they do a good job in, to be honest.

[jbaiter]

Absolutely, it's probably the most consumer-friendly and reliable part of all of the Bahn services. Personnel is usually pretty great too, and that despite them having to suffer the most from all the inept decisions made in the upper ranks.

[sunaookami]

>their customer facing IT is pretty good

What? The app is infamous for just "forgetting" tickets and when you get caught you HAVE to pay a fine and no they will not accept screenshots. You will win in court but have fun paying for everything in advance.

[lutoma]

> What? The app is infamous for just "forgetting" tickets

Citation needed. I've never heard of this being an issue (certainly not an "infamous" one) and almost everyone I know constantly travels by train and uses the app regularly. Maybe you're mixing things up with Deutschlandticket apps by regional transport associations, but that's not DB's fault.

Tickets get hidden from the default view once they're expired, but that's to be expected and you can press the prominent "Previous trips" button to see them.

[chebureki]

The DB App is great. It lets you buy tickets, informs you of delays and possible alternatives especially if you miss your connection, you can file a request for a refund, you can reserve a seat, you can use the comfort check-in and check yourself in, so you wouldn't have to show your ticket. You can even request a refund up to two hours after you purchased your ticket, without any fees.

No PDFs or print-outs or forms are needed.

Yes, you still get a PDF ticket sent to your email, but you aren't required to use it.

[okanat]

What is the issue with receiving tickets as PDF? It is the most flexible yet digital option. PDFs work regardless of the medium. You can show it in the phone or you can always add them to DB Navigator App anyways or if you would like to be old school, just print them.

[ilikerashers]

How about NFC? App with a QR code displayed?

Could be a force of habit for UK but that's mostly how we do tickets. Printing is usually still an option.

[okanat]

NFC is limited access for phones. You need to pay Google and Apple tax. Android does allow independent communication but it is not widespread and you'll lose a big chunk of Apple users. You basically tie yourself to a platform that way.

You can scan and add your QRs (or more correctly Aztec barcodes) in DB Navigator app already. If you bought it via your own account (instead of your company buying it), you don't even need to do it. The tickets automatically appear.

DB Navigator is one of the best transport apps and already implements some caching. However you're ultimately tied to cell network or WiFi in train for certain othet apps and the quality of implementation. PDFs don't expire.

[gzread]

They have an app with a code that isn't QR displayed. You can also get a PDF to print if you want to.

[fxwin]

> Tickets are sent via PDF for trains running 3 hours late

I agree that the delays are unacceptable, but the official app is great w/ digital tickets + seat registration, you don't need the PDF at all (it's even optional during checkout, so if you don't like them you can just uncheck the box lol)

[ilikerashers]

Maybe i booked through a shadow site. The ticket office printed out something else.

The ticket office did have impressive throughput and lines building up.

[mschuster91]

Try traveling by train through Eastern Europe. Makes you cry for Germany's Deutsche Bahn.