Friday, December 1, 2017

Train Ticket Story

This came up in the German news today and revolves around railway rides and technology.

We have now have APPs which you can activate and buy tickets while on the run.  So you run into the train station and here is train leaving in twelve seconds.  You hop on.....buy the ticket while standing there, and here is the train audit guy coming straight at you.....thirty seconds after you clicked the 'purchase' button.

You ought to be Ok....right?

No.

The ticket won't activate for two minutes.  So when the audit guy says to show you your smart-phone screen....you are screwed unless you can delay him enough to have the two-minutes in your hand.

Unfair?  The Bahn folks say this will prevent 'dodgers' from buying when they see the audit guy walking around.  To be honest, you could easily walk back twenty steps and you'd get the two minutes into your system to beat the Bahn.

My humble guess is that eventually it'll turn into a eight-minute delay, to prevent the dodgers.

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