Timeline for TGV from Strasbourg to Paris is cheaper if starting from Karlsruhe. Why?
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16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 29, 2017 at 7:16 | comment | added | Relaxed | Let us continue this discussion in chat. | |
| Sep 29, 2017 at 7:08 | comment | added | Relaxed | Let's look at it from another angle: What if the price satisfies your arbitrary notion of what it costs to provide transportation? What if the company is losing money? Your income hasn't changed, it's not easier for you to pay for it. Paris hasn't changed, it's still as interesting or boring as it was before. You literally get the same mileage out of your money and you have provided no reason why it would be rational to care about anything else as a passenger. Doing otherwise and going to B is akin to buying a gadget you don't need because there is a big shinny “20% discount” sign. | |
| Sep 29, 2017 at 7:06 | comment | added | Relaxed | @O.R.Mapper But it is the cheapest alternatively, it's not “seemingly” cheapest, that's the crux of the matter! And it's not about readily paying without further thought, it's about thinking about the right variables: other means of transportation, other destinations, other activities, spending vs. saving, without losing time on irrelevant things that I cannot influence. In this discussion, you're the one acting impulsively on a feeling of fairness instead of clearly evaluating the parameters of your decision. | |
| Sep 29, 2017 at 4:46 | comment | added | O. R. Mapper | @Relaxed: Sorry, readily paying whatever is charged for the seemingly cheapest alternative without any further thought does not seem rational to me, but I guess to each their own. | |
| Sep 28, 2017 at 22:23 | comment | added | Relaxed | By contrast, the way I try to evaluate the price of products is rational and straightforward: Do you I want to go there/how much pleasure will I derive from it? Is it this cheapest way to go there or are there alternatives? Is there some other place with a better interest/price ratio or some other use for my money that seems more rewarding? The margin of the vendor or some abstract comparison between trains journeys I don't want to make do not enter the decision at all. | |
| Sep 28, 2017 at 22:22 | comment | added | Relaxed | @O.R.Mapper That's a self-defeating notion of worth. You're actually inflicting damage on yourself, forgoing something that by your own admission is worth more to you (i.e. is more interesting) to enforce your notion of how trains should be priced. It's not something of interest to you as a passenger but only as a moralist. | |
| Sep 28, 2017 at 13:28 | comment | added | O. R. Mapper | @Relaxed: "Would you forgo going to A even if going to B is more actually expensive?" - yes. It's not about picking the cheapest offer, but about not paying more for something than what it is worth (i.e. presumed production cost to get exactly what you want - in this case, bridging the distance from point 1 to point 2 -, plus some small profit margin for the vendor). As I said above, it is not the only criterion, though, so interestingness of a place might indeed overrule the price/distance consideration. I now wonder how you evaluate the price of products, but I think it leads off-topic. | |
| Sep 28, 2017 at 11:17 | comment | added | Relaxed | @O.R.Mapper Unreasonably expensive compared to what? Would you forgo going to A even if going to B is more actually expensive? If A is more interesting and cheaper to go to than B, what does the “justifiability” matter? Conversely if you just mean you'd rather go to a cheaper place, I get it, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the relationship between distance and price. | |
| Sep 28, 2017 at 10:31 | comment | added | O. R. Mapper | @Relaxed: If, out of two places A and B, transportation to place A is unreasonably expensive, and transportation to place B is not, then I will certainly factor that into my decision on whether to travel to A or to B, obviously. As always, a part of a buying decision is based on whether the price seems justifyable. | |
| Sep 28, 2017 at 10:24 | comment | added | Relaxed | @O.R.Mapper OK, so you're deciding whether Paris is worth a visit based on minute details of the train companies pricing policy? That's an interesting outlook on life… | |
| Sep 28, 2017 at 5:41 | comment | added | O. R. Mapper | @Relaxed: "What would you do if it felt more expensive than it ought to according to your system? Take a taxi out of spite?" - when, as a customer, I have the impression that a product is overpriced, I will buy it less often than I otherwise would. | |
| Sep 27, 2017 at 18:39 | comment | added | Relaxed | @O.R.Mapper Well, the assumption here is that the train must take the shortest route and does not go through Strasbourg at all, which is clearly false. That's why it's irrelevant in this case. But more broadly, I don't see why you would care at all as a passenger, what's relevant are the options available to you. What would you do if it felt more expensive than it ought to according to your system? Take a taxi out of spite? Also, “mostly” != “completely”. | |
| Sep 27, 2017 at 15:17 | comment | added | O. R. Mapper | @Relaxed: The consideration as such is not completely irrelevant. As a passenger, I usually do not care where the tracks run and whether we geographically do a detour to an intermediate stop. I only care about the overall aerial distance bridged and want to pay according to that. | |
| Sep 27, 2017 at 5:11 | comment | added | paul | I did think about this and checked the plan. The train stops once - in Strasbourg. | |
| Sep 26, 2017 at 22:19 | comment | added | Relaxed | (-1) That's mostly irrelevant and simply untrue. Trains might or might not go through Saarbrücken at the moment (cf. comments) but the regular route to Karlsruhe has always been through Strasbourg since the East European High-Speed Line opened. Even trains going as far north are Frankfurt are faster through Strasbourg as they can use faster lines all the way (but in this case, there are also a few trains going through Saarbrücken). | |
| Sep 26, 2017 at 22:00 | history | answered | Aganju | CC BY-SA 3.0 |