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Announcement of the public transport strike on a display board in Berlin: tedious data flows to the cell phone
Photo: Andreas Friedrichs / IMAGO
Passengers in around 80 cities have to expect massive restrictions on Friday: Ver.di has called on bus and train drivers to go on strike. But if you want to find out in advance on Google Maps or a specialized app like Moovit whether you can still get to work by bus or train, you will usually be disappointed: by midday on Thursday, the emergency timetables of many transport companies had not yet been included in the apps.
Google and Moovit assure that they will feed in the data as soon as they receive it from the transport companies - but it is not possible to know when this will actually happen. Even Deutsche Bahn, which provides the DB Navigator, probably the most widely used local transport app in Germany, waved off SPIEGEL's request and did not want to take responsibility for the reliability of the data on Friday. "In an exceptional situation, such as the upcoming Ver.di strike on Friday, we recommend that all travelers find out about their journey directly from the respective public transport operator or transport association before their journey," explains a spokeswoman for the mobility group.
Advance warning with ambiguities
One reason for the confusion: Unlike the GDL strike last week, the strike affects not only a few large railway companies, but also a large number of often small transport providers that are part of more than 70 transport associations in Germany. Many of the 130 affected transport companies had already roughly informed their passengers about expected restrictions after it became clear that there would be a warning strike: for example with notices, media information and via their internet offerings. However, this was usually just a warning until the exact details were determined.
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App from the Düsseldorf provider Rheinbahn: advance warning via pop-up
Photo: Rheinbahn
These can be complicated. Sometimes there are buses and staff from different companies traveling in a city, not all of which are affected by the Ver.di call. Consequence: Those responsible must first clarify which lines they want and can maintain in emergency operations. They also have to take into account when the buses and drivers can be back on site. Only when this plan is available will the timetable information systems be updated. This already happened in Düsseldorf on Wednesday. But this information can only be found on the website of the provider and the VRR transport association; the emergency timetable has not yet arrived in most other offers, such as Google Maps.
Would have, would have, reporting chain
If you are only traveling in your own community, you can use the websites or apps of the local providers to find the routes that are likely to be served on Friday. However, anyone who, like more than 13 million Germans, commutes across district borders every day can sometimes run into a problem: different companies with different timetable systems are then probably responsible.
These are now coordinated by the DELFI association, which ensures that every local transport company knows what is happening in other areas so that they can also display routes beyond their own jurisdiction. But the system is not built for short-term strikes. "Integrating the timetable data at the federal level and exporting it again doesn't work at the push of a button in five minutes," explains Delfi managing director Marco Gennaro in an interview with SPIEGEL. A nationwide data set that summarizes all timetable data is only generated twice a week. The information is only available free of charge once a week. They can be imported into navigation apps every Thursday. Delfi does not know how long the providers need for this and whether they also use other data sources. Some particularly small transport companies have no capacity to distribute detailed emergency timetables digitally.
Gennaro recommends that commuters get information from local transport associations: "The apps and information services of the regional transport associations should generally have the best data in the event of strikes in local transport," explains the traffic data expert. However, you should really consult each affected transport association. In the traffic information system of the neighboring Cologne transport association VRS, for example, the Düsseldorf emergency timetables had not yet arrived on Thursday afternoon.