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> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 ca

> Drawing attention to himself like this may mark the end of this experience. Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips": https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse https://www.bahn.de/angebot/bahncard/bahncard100-1-klasse. Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance). I guess he's eating the additional cost for a 1st class Bahncard 100 because the 1st class usually isn't as extremely overcrowded as the 2nd class.

me_me_me 3y ago
7714 per year is 600 per month €600/month In Dublin would get you a 1m2 closet and shit bucket
- flohofwoe 3y ago
  Granted, I have a fairly "old" rent contract from before Berlin became posh. I guess the kid looked at current rents in German cities and then figured out that a Bahncard 100 actually isn't such a bad deal if you don't also have to pay rent ;) And TBH, as a new experience I can understand him, but I wonder how long it will take until he grows weary of the lifestyle, German cities all look a bit run down and depressing when arriving by train. Props to him for giving it a try though.
  - rockyj 3y ago
    To put this in context - The kid is 17. My daughter is 17 and she goes to school (11th grade) in Germany. I am an immigrant here so not sure how common this is in Germany but I assumed that kids at this age usually are in school. Kinda feels strange that someone so young is fending for himself and living in trains. Not saying it is bad, but just very uncommon. Also this is probably a "try it for a while" thing rather than the permanent / long-term lifestyle.
    - throwup238 3y ago
      Or he could become a drifter and graduate to roomier freight train cars. Probably cheaper too. I don’t know if that’s as viable a lifestyle in Europe as it is in the US, though.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      I started college in the US at 16 (which is admittedly a bit early) but I'm not sure 17 is all that young. And, yes, this sort of feels like a gap year in Europe sort of lifestyle.
    - moooo99 3y ago
      > I am an immigrant here so not sure how common this is in Germany but I assumed that kids at this age usually are in school. It’s very common actually. As you probably know, Germany has a three tiered school system where kids move to after finishing elementary school at circa 10 years old. Going to school is mandatory for 9 years here, regardless of graduation or not. You’ll leave Mittelschule after grade 9, so at 15-16. Realschule/mittlere Reife is usually finished after 10 total years in school, so at age ~16. Meanwhile gymnasium takes 12-13 years (depends on the state, our schools are weird), so you’d regularly be finished at 17-18 years old. iirc the distribution across those three tiers is relatively even on average. That would mean that most are finished with the primary education at 17 or younger. > Also this is probably a "try it for a while" thing rather than the permanent / long-term lifestyle. Absolutely. I’m a bit of a train nerd myself, but even I wouldn’t consider this lifestyle for much longer. But as long as it’s fun for him, I bet he’s DB‘s most reliable service tester
      - MenhirMike 3y ago
        It's also the perfect age to do something like that. No lifestyle inflation or real responsibility yet, so go and do something crazy while you're young and carefree. I would recommend to any kid - if they can afford it/have the proper support system - to take off a year after finishing school and just explore. And if you need money, do try some freelancing and see if it suits you. And if you're done, you can always enter the 9-to-5 grind by entering the workforce proper.
  - moooo99 3y ago
    > German cities all look a bit run down and depressing when arriving by train Not only by train unfortunately. Pretty much all of the post war modernist construction didn’t age well at all. Ironically, the most beautiful parts of most cities are often the ones that were reconstructed or somehow preserved.
- mandmandam 3y ago
  There is literally nothing [0] available in Dublin City to rent for 600/month. 0 - https://www.daft.ie/property-for-rent/dublin-city?showMap=false&sort=priceAsc https://www.daft.ie/property-for-rent/dublin-city?showMap=fa...
  - theBobBob 3y ago
    That is for renting a whole property. You will have to share with someone for €600 per month. Try the "Sharing" option in Daft for that.
    - JansjoFromIkea 3y ago
      Lowest I'm seeing in Blanchardstown for a room is €160 (the lower amounts are twin shares) Lowest I'm seeing in all of Dublin is €140 once you exclude twin rooms, monday-to-friday terms and whatever "Dublin Host Families" is
      - me_me_me 3y ago
        I have sneaking suspicion those are per week prices
        JansjoFromIkea 3y ago
        yep sorry I meant the polar opposite of how that post read! There's hardly anything remotely near Dublin that's in the sub 600 range was my point.
- Chris2048 3y ago
  But you're cherry picking a city with a housing crisis (and a shit, corrupt government with no planning skills).
- seba_dos1 3y ago
  You can get a one-time train ticket from Dublin to a cheaper place for a fraction of that.
  - JansjoFromIkea 3y ago
    €600 doesn't stretch very far anywhere in Ireland these days; you'd struggle to find a room for a fraction of 600 in a location where you can walk to a train to Dublin. Mightn't be possible at all tbh.
chippiewill 3y ago
> Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips" They can change that though (if there's a material cost impact to them of this). They could just say from next year that you're capped at N journeys per month or something, where N is a very large number for anyone other than someone trying to live on trains.
- flohofwoe 3y ago
  ...or they could just increase the Bahncard price, but it is already sort of a luxury item aimed mainly at businesses. It's at least more expensive than a more traditional "single lifestyle" (at least outside of popular cities). I don't think they'll run into the problem of the Bahncard 100 becoming too popular and being used to "live on the train".
  - TylerE 3y ago
    In any case, it get this article generated a lot more sales than this guy could ever cost. Trains are a lot like hotels. You want to fill every spot you can, even at low marginal value because marginal cost is all but zero.
- letsdothisagain 3y ago
  Tell me you're a landlord without telling me you're a landlord. "How dare this fucker weasel his way out of giving me 50% of his income! That's MY money!"
- TylerE 3y ago
  How do you do that and not screw over someone who has to make two transfers each way to work?
dfxm12 3y ago
Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance) I've heard Berlin is very expensive. I guess it's overblown like some other places I've lived that have a reputation for being "very expensive": if you're really looking, you can find affordable options, but the reporting data is being mostly skewed by outrageously expensive outliers.
- obmelvin 3y ago
  Berlin is a very odd city for renting. There are so many protections for renters. I have a friend who's parents bought a place there while she was doing her PhD. She got a roommate who was starting a PhD at the same time. This friend has since done a PostDoc in the US and worked nearly 5 years here (read: the original rate was set a while ago). Meanwhile, her old-roommate refuses to move out, pay more in rent or pay for utilities. Through a combination of ignoring messages (knowing that no one is in the country) and citing every renter protection one can, this person continues to pay only ~500 euro/month for rent + all utilities. It doesn't help that her parents live in a different EU country and need to use Russian-German lawyers, who seem to be fine taking money even if they can't do much. I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit.
  - dfxm12 3y ago
    I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit. Can you elaborate on why you imagine this?
    - obmelvin 3y ago
      I just mean that strict controls over the ability to raise prices & not letting the landlord terminate the lease after a 12-month cycle has ended would likely effect the calculations done by landlords. A landlord may want a high price to 1) bake in future raises, if they can't be done year to year and 2) a filter to only rent to people with high paying jobs in an attempt to avoid situations where someone doesn't leave because they'll never find something as cheap. To be clear, this is my inductive reasoning after asking this friend many questions in disbelief at her situation. I can't say definitively that this is a cause of higher rents. Nor do I mean to imply that there aren't bigger effects.
dannyobrien 3y ago
Are you in a rent-controlled apartment? It seems an ok price for a single room available now, but not an easy price to get for a new arrival in Berlin.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance) What apartment can you still get for less than 640 Euros in Berlin today?
- rocketbop 3y ago
  The apartment you got several years ago and still have.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    That's why I said "which you can get" not "which you already have" ;)
andai 3y ago
Is the rest of Germany cheaper? That's wild, my student room in Holland ten years ago cost not much less than that.

me_me_me 3y ago

7714 per year is 600 per month €600/month In Dublin would get you a 1m2 closet and shit bucket

flohofwoe 3y ago
Granted, I have a fairly "old" rent contract from before Berlin became posh. I guess the kid looked at current rents in German cities and then figured out that a Bahncard 100 actually isn't such a bad deal if you don't also have to pay rent ;) And TBH, as a new experience I can understand him, but I wonder how long it will take until he grows weary of the lifestyle, German cities all look a bit run down and depressing when arriving by train. Props to him for giving it a try though.
- rockyj 3y ago
  To put this in context - The kid is 17. My daughter is 17 and she goes to school (11th grade) in Germany. I am an immigrant here so not sure how common this is in Germany but I assumed that kids at this age usually are in school. Kinda feels strange that someone so young is fending for himself and living in trains. Not saying it is bad, but just very uncommon. Also this is probably a "try it for a while" thing rather than the permanent / long-term lifestyle.
  - throwup238 3y ago
    Or he could become a drifter and graduate to roomier freight train cars. Probably cheaper too. I don’t know if that’s as viable a lifestyle in Europe as it is in the US, though.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    I started college in the US at 16 (which is admittedly a bit early) but I'm not sure 17 is all that young. And, yes, this sort of feels like a gap year in Europe sort of lifestyle.
  - moooo99 3y ago
    > I am an immigrant here so not sure how common this is in Germany but I assumed that kids at this age usually are in school. It’s very common actually. As you probably know, Germany has a three tiered school system where kids move to after finishing elementary school at circa 10 years old. Going to school is mandatory for 9 years here, regardless of graduation or not. You’ll leave Mittelschule after grade 9, so at 15-16. Realschule/mittlere Reife is usually finished after 10 total years in school, so at age ~16. Meanwhile gymnasium takes 12-13 years (depends on the state, our schools are weird), so you’d regularly be finished at 17-18 years old. iirc the distribution across those three tiers is relatively even on average. That would mean that most are finished with the primary education at 17 or younger. > Also this is probably a "try it for a while" thing rather than the permanent / long-term lifestyle. Absolutely. I’m a bit of a train nerd myself, but even I wouldn’t consider this lifestyle for much longer. But as long as it’s fun for him, I bet he’s DB‘s most reliable service tester
    - MenhirMike 3y ago
      It's also the perfect age to do something like that. No lifestyle inflation or real responsibility yet, so go and do something crazy while you're young and carefree. I would recommend to any kid - if they can afford it/have the proper support system - to take off a year after finishing school and just explore. And if you need money, do try some freelancing and see if it suits you. And if you're done, you can always enter the 9-to-5 grind by entering the workforce proper.
- moooo99 3y ago
  > German cities all look a bit run down and depressing when arriving by train Not only by train unfortunately. Pretty much all of the post war modernist construction didn’t age well at all. Ironically, the most beautiful parts of most cities are often the ones that were reconstructed or somehow preserved.
mandmandam 3y ago
There is literally nothing [0] available in Dublin City to rent for 600/month. 0 - https://www.daft.ie/property-for-rent/dublin-city?showMap=false&sort=priceAsc https://www.daft.ie/property-for-rent/dublin-city?showMap=fa...
- theBobBob 3y ago
  That is for renting a whole property. You will have to share with someone for €600 per month. Try the "Sharing" option in Daft for that.
  - JansjoFromIkea 3y ago
    Lowest I'm seeing in Blanchardstown for a room is €160 (the lower amounts are twin shares) Lowest I'm seeing in all of Dublin is €140 once you exclude twin rooms, monday-to-friday terms and whatever "Dublin Host Families" is
    - me_me_me 3y ago
      I have sneaking suspicion those are per week prices
      - JansjoFromIkea 3y ago
        yep sorry I meant the polar opposite of how that post read! There's hardly anything remotely near Dublin that's in the sub 600 range was my point.
Chris2048 3y ago
But you're cherry picking a city with a housing crisis (and a shit, corrupt government with no planning skills).
seba_dos1 3y ago
You can get a one-time train ticket from Dublin to a cheaper place for a fraction of that.
- JansjoFromIkea 3y ago
  €600 doesn't stretch very far anywhere in Ireland these days; you'd struggle to find a room for a fraction of 600 in a location where you can walk to a train to Dublin. Mightn't be possible at all tbh.

chippiewill 3y ago

> Unlikely, the FAQ on the ordering page explicitly states that the Bahncard 100 can be used for "any number of trips" They can change that though (if there's a material cost impact to them of this). They could just say from next year that you're capped at N journeys per month or something, where N is a very large number for anyone other than someone trying to live on trains.

flohofwoe 3y ago
...or they could just increase the Bahncard price, but it is already sort of a luxury item aimed mainly at businesses. It's at least more expensive than a more traditional "single lifestyle" (at least outside of popular cities). I don't think they'll run into the problem of the Bahncard 100 becoming too popular and being used to "live on the train".
- TylerE 3y ago
  In any case, it get this article generated a lot more sales than this guy could ever cost. Trains are a lot like hotels. You want to fill every spot you can, even at low marginal value because marginal cost is all but zero.
letsdothisagain 3y ago
Tell me you're a landlord without telling me you're a landlord. "How dare this fucker weasel his way out of giving me 50% of his income! That's MY money!"
TylerE 3y ago
How do you do that and not screw over someone who has to make two transfers each way to work?

dfxm12 3y ago

Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance) I've heard Berlin is very expensive. I guess it's overblown like some other places I've lived that have a reputation for being "very expensive": if you're really looking, you can find affordable options, but the reporting data is being mostly skewed by outrageously expensive outliers.

obmelvin 3y ago
Berlin is a very odd city for renting. There are so many protections for renters. I have a friend who's parents bought a place there while she was doing her PhD. She got a roommate who was starting a PhD at the same time. This friend has since done a PostDoc in the US and worked nearly 5 years here (read: the original rate was set a while ago). Meanwhile, her old-roommate refuses to move out, pay more in rent or pay for utilities. Through a combination of ignoring messages (knowing that no one is in the country) and citing every renter protection one can, this person continues to pay only ~500 euro/month for rent + all utilities. It doesn't help that her parents live in a different EU country and need to use Russian-German lawyers, who seem to be fine taking money even if they can't do much. I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit.
- dfxm12 3y ago
  I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit. Can you elaborate on why you imagine this?
  - obmelvin 3y ago
    I just mean that strict controls over the ability to raise prices & not letting the landlord terminate the lease after a 12-month cycle has ended would likely effect the calculations done by landlords. A landlord may want a high price to 1) bake in future raises, if they can't be done year to year and 2) a filter to only rent to people with high paying jobs in an attempt to avoid situations where someone doesn't leave because they'll never find something as cheap. To be clear, this is my inductive reasoning after asking this friend many questions in disbelief at her situation. I can't say definitively that this is a cause of higher rents. Nor do I mean to imply that there aren't bigger effects.

dannyobrien 3y ago

Are you in a rent-controlled apartment? It seems an ok price for a single room available now, but not an easy price to get for a new arrival in Berlin.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

>7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance) What apartment can you still get for less than 640 Euros in Berlin today?

rocketbop 3y ago
The apartment you got several years ago and still have.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  That's why I said "which you can get" not "which you already have" ;)

andai 3y ago

Is the rest of Germany cheaper? That's wild, my student room in Holland ten years ago cost not much less than that.