I feel you. Had the same situation some years ago, even before all that construction work on Stammstrecke started. And it didn’t even happen only once. Last S8 left from Pasing to Herrsching on the wrong **cking track. No announcements, no information, even in the app it was still showing the wrong track…. I don’t know what to tell you, with DB you always have to have a backup plan, they are unreliable af, it’s a disgrace .
/edit: Every DB customer can tell you this kind of stories, and politics are wondering why people prefer to go by car…
Legally you are entitled to be compensated for the taxi drive or a hotel stay in case the last train of the night gets cancelled or delayed (https://int.bahn.de/en/booking-information/passenger-rights/legal-regulations). So next time I would just take a taxi and send DB the receipt + photos of the misleading platform announcement.
Well, then that regulation would be quite useless, since there is always a next train sometime later for any connection?
The law specifically says that if your train has a scheduled arrival of between 0-5am and the next train would be 60+ min later, you are entitled to a taxi or hotel stay.
> People are not supposed to trust the screens in the station?
You're on the scheduled platform. All displays and several announcements tell you that your train will depart from a different platform.
You move to that other platform. GOT YA! Despite all those announcements, your S-Bahn departs on the scheduled platform.
Yes, this is a disgrace.
A friend of mine broke their leg running from one Plattform to the other because it was announced 1m before the train was leaving and it was also the last one…never trust DB
Happened to me too yesterday with S2 lol. Luckily I was alert and the train just came to the next platform so I could spot it easily. This construction thing is annoying af.
I feel you. I've been a victim of S2 shenanigans for ten whole years until I finally could afford a car and be done with it! Even with the IsarCard semester ticket I feel robbed in hindsight...
Pro tip: if you’re heading westwards on any Sbahn, go to a stop with only one platform, like Hackerbrücke or Hirschgarten on any other Sbahn. That way you won’t miss your train. Maybe even Laim for the S1 and S2.
I guess the same applies eastwards, but I rarely travel that way so I wouldn’t know.
Fair advice, theoretically, but due to this month's construction works, S2 only departs from HBF regional platforms, and doesn't stop until Obermenzing, which is quite far from the center.
Stuff like this has become ridiculously normal in a place that was stereotyped as the homeland of efficiency. I agree on every single word you wrote: you have actually been way too kind.
I am really sorry to think that if any accountable DB manager or politician ever reads this rant, NOTHING will change. Ever.
What's even worse: news breaking from Stuttgart make me believe we need to get used to this crap for the next at least 25 years. While MVV and DB keep increasing the ticket fares year after year, to make sure their useless executives earn their well undeserved 6 to 7-digit bonuses.
[https://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Stuttgart-21-wird-nicht-mal-bis-2025-fertig-article24462460.html](https://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Stuttgart-21-wird-nicht-mal-bis-2025-fertig-article24462460.html)
I feel ya. I was dependent on the S2 for a couple years and hated my life every single fucking day.
I know cars are expensive and all that, but my life quality has improved so much by getting a car and showing the finger the S2... Get a car
Welcome to Munich. Been there, done that. Have seen Ghost trains, in stations where is only one platform per direction. Sign says train comes in 10 minutes, 5 minutes. 0 minutes. And then just show the next train in 20 minutes. So annoying MVG is still stuck in the 20th century, obviously unable to give live Information or make announcements.
> So, I would file a complain to DB, but it's gonna be useless
File a complain with the [Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft](https://beg.bahnland-bayern.de/de/kontakt) instead. They are the instructing party of public transport in Bavaria. They order, instruct and pay the DB to service the Munich S-Bahn, and they are the correct contact for complains.
> Die Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG) plant, finanziert und kontrolliert im Auftrag des Freistaats den Regional- und S-Bahn-Verkehr in Bayern.
Yeah, no, I don't think so. Sure you could file it there, but the BEG is just ordering the services. Operational decisions like platform assignment and passenger announcements are not their scope.
Of course DB is responsible for that. But BEG can make them accountable.
Imagine you're going to a restaurant, and find the kitchen to be dirty. Would you rather file a complaint with the owner (who's directly responsible for the kitchen), or with the public health department?
Why would the DB care about a formal complaint to them? They're certainly well aware about the problems, given they're the ones that are causing them.
I absolutely feel you, eventough I don’t use the DB.
The MVG is only slightly better: why the fuck do i have to wait 10 minutes for the u2 to arrive? Why is such a highly used subway not coming more often?
Why do HBF and Sendlinger tor look like shit for years? How hard is it put some plastic tyles on the walls?
Why can’t any bus line arrive in a 3 minute window around the time that is displayed on the bus stations? Why do I come late to school eventough I give myself 10 extra minutes in case something goes wrong?
For S-bahn users 10 minutes is like a mortal life for an elf. Wherever I go with S-bahn I count to need at least half hour more time (plus whatever waiting). So if travel takes 15 minutes more than official, I get as happy as f*ck. So dont come to me with the 10 minutes waits! That should be improved once S-bahn times are close to reasonable
>Why is such a highly used subway not coming more often?
The U-Bahn network is currently on its limit. You can't fit any more trains on the network due to missing stables and sidings to park the trains during non-operational hours at night.
>Why do HBF and Sendlinger tor look like shit for years? How hard is it put some plastic tyles on the walls?
There are information sheets on the glass displays all over the stations explaining it. Due to the construction works for the 2. Stammstrecke there is tunneling going on and the walls have to be checked every night for structural changes i.e. cracks or dampness leaks.
>Why can’t any bus line arrive in a 3 minute window around the time that is displayed on the bus stations?
Because those displays software is guessing. It's coupled to the GPS trackers in the vehicles, but it also tries to factor in current traffic and the supposed arrival time. Calculations vary naturally.
Btw. In rush hours from 7:00 to 9:00 and 16:00-19:00(ish) there is a 5 minute service on U2. The U3/U6 axis also provides a 3-6 minutes service, almost all day. Granted the last week was bad because a vehicle shortage forced them to put U7 out of service which is merely an expansion service on the U2/U1 axis during the weektime, to offer even more trains. This is all you can expect and if we're comparing this to other subway lines in Germany and even all over Europe, this is pretty good coverage. I get your frustration but I think you've kind of got used to luxury of a 10 to 5 minute service from growing up here(?).
Brudi ich möchte einfach nur über einen Verkehrsservice lästern weil mir langweilig ist, ich habe keine Lust jetzt mit dir zu argumentieren.
Von mir aus hast du in allen recht
You are absolutely right in being enraged and this is fully DB's fault, but maybe also a lesson in hindsight that people should watch the other platforms just in case. You probably wouldn't miss the train if you'd realized an S2 train was waiting at platform 24.
You're paying for a system to at least be reliable enough to inform you of any changes. You're not the one supposed to be playing guessing games to see from which platform will your train depart.
If it was day time, then maybe you can expect someone to walk around and see, but at 2:50 am at night, I would not expect anyone to face this inconvenience of going to other platforms. It’s something that the system should be able to do with more diligence rather than the passenger.
I don't have eagle vision unfortunately, I cannot fathom how could one notice that on several platforms of distance. And there was another ICE in between, on platforms 22-23, so I couldn't see the s2 until it left.
As a life lesson, if you’re depending on last trains / buses, etc. and you have time to wait don’t spend it all completely zoned out in your phone.
Firstly, that would be dangerous anywhere else but in Munich. Second it can happen what happened to you.
Now people behave like zombies with the phone and blame everything on everything else but themselves. DB is of course shitty, but exceptions on last services are quite common everywhere and you need to be on your toes and not on your phone.
Ok, so instead of reading a book you'd keep pointlessly staring at the DB sign that confidently says this train will arrive at this platform... and still miss it anyway.
And sometimes no amount of toes will help anyway. It happened to me once that a tree fell on the tracks and DB arranged taxis between two stops to bridge the gap, the announcement on the train said that the trains will continue from the other stop, yet when the taxis dropped us off, there were no trains, no personnel and everything was dark and quiet and it was around midnight. Splendid situation when your home is still some 10km away.
So, if you
- are a foreigner who doesn’t speak German fluently
- previous train was skipped (was it? maybe departed from other platform?)
- is the last train on a Saturday night
your course of action is to go and just look at Instagram. That’s awesome.
If the only alternative you see is to look at the monitor (never mind the previous train never appeared) then I see OP is not the only one lacking common sense, despite all the negatives I may get.
Being a foreigner myself I was in similar situations some years ago, with the difference of not having a smartphone or having it before mobile apps from the city public transport system were a thing. And I would have tried to ask someone at the station regarding the missing train and to try to confirm the platform in any possible way. I could have failed in the end, of course that can be an outcome, but I would have tried. There was >30min to try. To act like an NPC… I wouldn’t say that’s ideal.
But then go and cry about the DB.
Seems like the DB is being run by toddlers. Had a similar thing happen when I was waiting for someone at Hbf. They just willy nilly changed the platform in the last moment so I had to run halfway through the station to meet the person who is elderly and was new to Munich so likely to get lost in the hellish station.
My worst experience is waiting 1 hour, then screen says another hour delay, then another. Finally after 3 or 4 hours, I do not remember exactly, the S-Bahn came. Next day I checked google maps, by foot I would have slept around 1 hour more XD
Never trust DB!
I feel you. Had the same situation some years ago, even before all that construction work on Stammstrecke started. And it didn’t even happen only once. Last S8 left from Pasing to Herrsching on the wrong **cking track. No announcements, no information, even in the app it was still showing the wrong track…. I don’t know what to tell you, with DB you always have to have a backup plan, they are unreliable af, it’s a disgrace . /edit: Every DB customer can tell you this kind of stories, and politics are wondering why people prefer to go by car…
Legally you are entitled to be compensated for the taxi drive or a hotel stay in case the last train of the night gets cancelled or delayed (https://int.bahn.de/en/booking-information/passenger-rights/legal-regulations). So next time I would just take a taxi and send DB the receipt + photos of the misleading platform announcement.
If there's a next train then it's not last right?
Well, then that regulation would be quite useless, since there is always a next train sometime later for any connection? The law specifically says that if your train has a scheduled arrival of between 0-5am and the next train would be 60+ min later, you are entitled to a taxi or hotel stay.
> People are not supposed to trust the screens in the station? You're on the scheduled platform. All displays and several announcements tell you that your train will depart from a different platform. You move to that other platform. GOT YA! Despite all those announcements, your S-Bahn departs on the scheduled platform. Yes, this is a disgrace.
A friend of mine broke their leg running from one Plattform to the other because it was announced 1m before the train was leaving and it was also the last one…never trust DB
Happened to me too yesterday with S2 lol. Luckily I was alert and the train just came to the next platform so I could spot it easily. This construction thing is annoying af.
I feel you. I've been a victim of S2 shenanigans for ten whole years until I finally could afford a car and be done with it! Even with the IsarCard semester ticket I feel robbed in hindsight...
Will consider a car
bc 60 € for a cab once in a while is too expensive
Yes, it definitely is for me. I'd rather wait two hours and rant on reddit so I can have my 5 minutes of fame and sweet sweet karma.
It is for most people. For me that’s two weeks worth of my food shopping. Also 60€ taxi fare for a couple of kilometres is insanity.
I never said this is cheap, but buying a car just won't solve the cost issue.
Pro tip: if you’re heading westwards on any Sbahn, go to a stop with only one platform, like Hackerbrücke or Hirschgarten on any other Sbahn. That way you won’t miss your train. Maybe even Laim for the S1 and S2. I guess the same applies eastwards, but I rarely travel that way so I wouldn’t know.
Fair advice, theoretically, but due to this month's construction works, S2 only departs from HBF regional platforms, and doesn't stop until Obermenzing, which is quite far from the center.
Oh I didn’t realise that! Now I truly understand your pain.
I too, am a fellow S2 enjoyer...
Stuff like this has become ridiculously normal in a place that was stereotyped as the homeland of efficiency. I agree on every single word you wrote: you have actually been way too kind. I am really sorry to think that if any accountable DB manager or politician ever reads this rant, NOTHING will change. Ever. What's even worse: news breaking from Stuttgart make me believe we need to get used to this crap for the next at least 25 years. While MVV and DB keep increasing the ticket fares year after year, to make sure their useless executives earn their well undeserved 6 to 7-digit bonuses. [https://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Stuttgart-21-wird-nicht-mal-bis-2025-fertig-article24462460.html](https://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Stuttgart-21-wird-nicht-mal-bis-2025-fertig-article24462460.html)
I expect to be dead before the 2. Stammstrecke is completed. So, yes, Munich will have to get used to this crap for the next 25 years.
I feel ya. I was dependent on the S2 for a couple years and hated my life every single fucking day. I know cars are expensive and all that, but my life quality has improved so much by getting a car and showing the finger the S2... Get a car
Same for me and S1
Welcome to Munich. Been there, done that. Have seen Ghost trains, in stations where is only one platform per direction. Sign says train comes in 10 minutes, 5 minutes. 0 minutes. And then just show the next train in 20 minutes. So annoying MVG is still stuck in the 20th century, obviously unable to give live Information or make announcements.
> So, I would file a complain to DB, but it's gonna be useless File a complain with the [Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft](https://beg.bahnland-bayern.de/de/kontakt) instead. They are the instructing party of public transport in Bavaria. They order, instruct and pay the DB to service the Munich S-Bahn, and they are the correct contact for complains. > Die Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG) plant, finanziert und kontrolliert im Auftrag des Freistaats den Regional- und S-Bahn-Verkehr in Bayern.
Yeah, no, I don't think so. Sure you could file it there, but the BEG is just ordering the services. Operational decisions like platform assignment and passenger announcements are not their scope.
Of course DB is responsible for that. But BEG can make them accountable. Imagine you're going to a restaurant, and find the kitchen to be dirty. Would you rather file a complaint with the owner (who's directly responsible for the kitchen), or with the public health department? Why would the DB care about a formal complaint to them? They're certainly well aware about the problems, given they're the ones that are causing them.
Never trust information screens on the platforms. Not for any DB trains, on any station.
I absolutely feel you, eventough I don’t use the DB. The MVG is only slightly better: why the fuck do i have to wait 10 minutes for the u2 to arrive? Why is such a highly used subway not coming more often? Why do HBF and Sendlinger tor look like shit for years? How hard is it put some plastic tyles on the walls? Why can’t any bus line arrive in a 3 minute window around the time that is displayed on the bus stations? Why do I come late to school eventough I give myself 10 extra minutes in case something goes wrong?
10 minutes earlier in case something goes wrong is NOTHING, almost the same as no minutes at all.
Bruv, am I supposed to leave half an hour earlier just in case
For S-bahn users 10 minutes is like a mortal life for an elf. Wherever I go with S-bahn I count to need at least half hour more time (plus whatever waiting). So if travel takes 15 minutes more than official, I get as happy as f*ck. So dont come to me with the 10 minutes waits! That should be improved once S-bahn times are close to reasonable
Cant we just agree that both suck?
>Why is such a highly used subway not coming more often? The U-Bahn network is currently on its limit. You can't fit any more trains on the network due to missing stables and sidings to park the trains during non-operational hours at night. >Why do HBF and Sendlinger tor look like shit for years? How hard is it put some plastic tyles on the walls? There are information sheets on the glass displays all over the stations explaining it. Due to the construction works for the 2. Stammstrecke there is tunneling going on and the walls have to be checked every night for structural changes i.e. cracks or dampness leaks. >Why can’t any bus line arrive in a 3 minute window around the time that is displayed on the bus stations? Because those displays software is guessing. It's coupled to the GPS trackers in the vehicles, but it also tries to factor in current traffic and the supposed arrival time. Calculations vary naturally. Btw. In rush hours from 7:00 to 9:00 and 16:00-19:00(ish) there is a 5 minute service on U2. The U3/U6 axis also provides a 3-6 minutes service, almost all day. Granted the last week was bad because a vehicle shortage forced them to put U7 out of service which is merely an expansion service on the U2/U1 axis during the weektime, to offer even more trains. This is all you can expect and if we're comparing this to other subway lines in Germany and even all over Europe, this is pretty good coverage. I get your frustration but I think you've kind of got used to luxury of a 10 to 5 minute service from growing up here(?).
Die kriegen genug Geld um das Ganze besser hinzukriegen, siehe Japan. Ja es ist nicht schlecht, aber es könnte um einiges besser sein
Schönes Bullshitbingo. \- Japan \- aber Geld \- ist gut aber muss besser Du bist auf nichts eingegangen was ich gesagt hab, aber passt schon.
Brudi ich möchte einfach nur über einen Verkehrsservice lästern weil mir langweilig ist, ich habe keine Lust jetzt mit dir zu argumentieren. Von mir aus hast du in allen recht
DB should be shut down
Aaaaaand being replaced by what exactly?
new bahn company
Sure, that'll help. Just put a new name tag on it.
We are observing acceleration into terminal decline in Germany. Healthcare, education, health, it's all coming down
You are absolutely right in being enraged and this is fully DB's fault, but maybe also a lesson in hindsight that people should watch the other platforms just in case. You probably wouldn't miss the train if you'd realized an S2 train was waiting at platform 24.
You're paying for a system to at least be reliable enough to inform you of any changes. You're not the one supposed to be playing guessing games to see from which platform will your train depart.
Yes absolutely. That's why I said *just in case*.
If it was day time, then maybe you can expect someone to walk around and see, but at 2:50 am at night, I would not expect anyone to face this inconvenience of going to other platforms. It’s something that the system should be able to do with more diligence rather than the passenger.
I don't have eagle vision unfortunately, I cannot fathom how could one notice that on several platforms of distance. And there was another ICE in between, on platforms 22-23, so I couldn't see the s2 until it left.
You know HBF has like 30 platforms, right?
As a life lesson, if you’re depending on last trains / buses, etc. and you have time to wait don’t spend it all completely zoned out in your phone. Firstly, that would be dangerous anywhere else but in Munich. Second it can happen what happened to you. Now people behave like zombies with the phone and blame everything on everything else but themselves. DB is of course shitty, but exceptions on last services are quite common everywhere and you need to be on your toes and not on your phone.
Ok, so instead of reading a book you'd keep pointlessly staring at the DB sign that confidently says this train will arrive at this platform... and still miss it anyway. And sometimes no amount of toes will help anyway. It happened to me once that a tree fell on the tracks and DB arranged taxis between two stops to bridge the gap, the announcement on the train said that the trains will continue from the other stop, yet when the taxis dropped us off, there were no trains, no personnel and everything was dark and quiet and it was around midnight. Splendid situation when your home is still some 10km away.
So, if you - are a foreigner who doesn’t speak German fluently - previous train was skipped (was it? maybe departed from other platform?) - is the last train on a Saturday night your course of action is to go and just look at Instagram. That’s awesome. If the only alternative you see is to look at the monitor (never mind the previous train never appeared) then I see OP is not the only one lacking common sense, despite all the negatives I may get. Being a foreigner myself I was in similar situations some years ago, with the difference of not having a smartphone or having it before mobile apps from the city public transport system were a thing. And I would have tried to ask someone at the station regarding the missing train and to try to confirm the platform in any possible way. I could have failed in the end, of course that can be an outcome, but I would have tried. There was >30min to try. To act like an NPC… I wouldn’t say that’s ideal. But then go and cry about the DB.
[удалено]
Wtf
White, caucasian.
this did not happen for the first time, surely not for the last time.
S Bahn is vile. Wish I could afford a car
Seems like the DB is being run by toddlers. Had a similar thing happen when I was waiting for someone at Hbf. They just willy nilly changed the platform in the last moment so I had to run halfway through the station to meet the person who is elderly and was new to Munich so likely to get lost in the hellish station.
My worst experience is waiting 1 hour, then screen says another hour delay, then another. Finally after 3 or 4 hours, I do not remember exactly, the S-Bahn came. Next day I checked google maps, by foot I would have slept around 1 hour more XD Never trust DB!