Being linked to on Mastodon is a minor DDOS every time as everyone’s instances fetch the preview card for the post.
Normally not a problem except on our page of results which is heavy to render with all info and sometimes our web servers get tripped over by the load for a few minutes. I really should make some changes to lazy load the heavy stuff in these cases 😬
(But please continue linking – that is intended to work!)
@jon The agency’s letter to the government following the case is very interesting reading for anyone thinking about this. This is a national authority outlining what they deem to be effective and ineffective paths to improve access & services.
TLDR: They judge independent booking portals are necessary, but unlikely to appear without supporting legislation. And that lack of this also hinders open access operators plans.
(Conclusions from page 8)
Apparently the Swedish Competition Authority ruled in 2019, in a case brought by two open access operators, that forcing the incumbent operator to sell competitors in their dominant sales channel would be an ineffective measure.
Instead they propose to legislate fair conditions for independent booking portals to emerge. AFAIK, this was not followed up by legislators.
Interesting context from a national authority in regards to the upcoming EU proposals.
https://www.konkurrensverket.se/konkurrens/tillsyn-arenden-och-beslut/arendelista/sj-ab2/
For reference: Follow up interview/analysis with Magnus Olofsson from KTH/Resenärerna at 78:42. Pretty harsh criticism regarding claimed comfort and economics of these carriages (and thus risk of high ticket prices and potentially killing the concept).
More details about today’s announcement of Talgo coaches for Swedish night trains in this radio interview (at 44:55)
- Coaches by Talgo
- Locos by Siemens
- Three comforts: 4-bed, 2-bed with wc/shower, and some fuzzily defined solo compartment
- Same capacity as today’s fleet
- Claim of ”high comfort”, but focusing on temperature and sound insulation and wifi
- Of course they say they think it will run as promised in 2030
@stefanlindbohm I hadn't used Railfinder in a while and _damn_, it's so good now? I tried some of the routes it had failed on in the past and a couple new ones and it gave me complete, sensible options? I just... looked at them and went "Yupp, that is the reasonable way to do it" for basically each one?
Massive kudos, this is a game changer ~~the only game where...~~
Update on SJ’s new trains & connection to Copenhagen:
• The new 250 km/h Avelia Stream Nordic (ex Zefiro Express) will be called X250 by SJ. Estimated for timetable 28 (December 2027). First on Gothenburg - Copenhagen.
• New CAF regional trains will be class X45 and start replacing current X40 on Gothenburg - Stockholm, maybe starting as soon as December this year
• Reintroduction of X2000 Stockholm - Copenhagen is pending Danish approval for the upgraded trainsets
Today working on support for self-serve refunds on Railfinder*, and I finally cracked the last boss of building a multi-ticket booking platform: how the hell to solve after sales with multiple tickets. We will finally have a tech architecture + UI that MAKES SENSE and is future-proof!
Just needed to share. Thanks for listening 🤓
*Refunds will allow some significant news that have been held back. And yes, booking fees will be refundable (for the portion of the booking that is being refunded).
My minigolfing of regional rail branding across Europe continues, and now we show train names/brands across the Netherlands on Railfinder! And as a bonus we now also show line numbers where we have that data.
Big thanks to @partim for explaining the systems-within-systems for how NL regional rail is organised & marketed. Saved quite some research!
If you see any train branding/names/lines that’s off (in NL or elsewhere), I always want to hear that feedback for my next minigolfing session.
miniBill (Leonardo)