The builder's path
For: Rail passengers in Germany can't see, when booking, how often a given connection has actually worked.
“Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Germany.
Step 1
Join an incubator or startup mission
They connect you to schemes and officials.
Y Combinator's free course and co-founder matching.
Accelerator for tech nonprofits.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 2
Win a seed grant
Prove the idea works with a small, funded prototype.
Funds bold ideas in global health and humanitarian work.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Funds open source solutions from emerging economies.
Step 3
Pilot with a public body
A district, city or department tries it with real people.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
Deutsche Bahn's developer portal with timetable and station APIs.
Passenger association that tracks reliability problems and passenger rights.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Germany. Problem: Rail passengers in Germany can't see, when booking, how often a given connection has actually worked. Who it hurts: People booking ICE and Intercity trips with a change of train, especially to catch flights, appointments or the last connection of the day. The moment it hurts: Choosing between a tight 8-minute change and a later, slower option on the booking screen. What people do today: The booking tool shows planned times and live delays on the day, but not the track record of a train or a change. Passengers guess or add large buffers. Why it is still unsolved: Punctuality is reported as one national figure per year, while the risk a passenger faces depends on the specific train, station and time of day. What solved looks like: Before booking, a passenger enters a route and sees for each option how often the first train arrived in time for the change over the last 90 days, built from Deutsche Bahn's own timetable and change data. Where: Germany First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“You cannot step twice into the same river.”
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“The things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Your right is to the work alone, never to its fruits.”
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.