Have you maybe tried to open the website on a desktop pc? Maybe it will give you other options e.g. Apple wallet, which would result in a PKpass file? There has to be some way for apple users. Or maybe ask a friend with an Iphone to open it, try to download it and if it is a pkpass send it to you?

And yet another question, if I send an email asking the transportation authority what kind of technology they use for travel documents, if they provide any alternative to google or any way to download the ticket in either pkpass format or any other format that doesn’t require me to give my personal data to a data grabber, if they provide plastic travel cards to people that won’t allow their data to be used by google, what are the chances they won’t ignore me or outright laugh at me?

50:50 tbh, either you get someone who had bad experience with privacy laws (or something where privacy laws were severely misunderstood and resulted in a worse product because people didn’t check things properly. That is how it often goes in my experience.). Or you get someone who understands your problem and can help you.

I just learned what a pkpass file because some of you seem to know this technology, but ain’t it an apple technology?

while pkpass files are developed by Apple they can be used on Android with several Apps (i think they might be even usable with Google Wallet but i am not sure.). So often times when something can be added to the wallet i just click the Apple button, get the file and add it to my app. (In Germany, usage spread depends heavily on the region. Big city events often have wallet links for tickets etc.)

It’s not directly answering your questions, but I do like .pkpass. It’s a good standard because it does not require accounts, links or anything like that. If you have the file, you can import it. It’s the opposite of how Google does it, which makes it useful beyond Apple.

PDFs/Screenshots being invalid because it can be sent quickly to multiple people is a bad reason as you could print out multiple copies too. Sadly, being sensible is so often not a thing.

FossWallet seems to be great although I didn’t try it yet.

I also really hate it when services restrict downloads depending on the platform. I.e. it could be possible that Apple users get shown a .pkpass, while Android is artificially limited to Google Wallet - even though not all devices support it. Maybe setting the user agent could help but that’s just a wild guess.

Can’t really answer your questions, since u have never heard of the technology in question, but when you book the “Deutschland ticket” (Germany ticket), which gives access to every form of public transportation except IC/ICE for 58€ per month, you simply get a QR Code that you can take A Screenshot of.

When I had that problem I was able to klick ‘add to Apple Wallet’ or something like this and it downloaded the .pkpass file. Maybe you need to spoof your useragent to present as a iOS device/PC?

Sometimes the agents who check tickets don’t accept something that looks unfamiliar though so be carefull. In most cases that does not agree with ther terms (which prohibit screenshots, not non-google wallet apps), but what’s your recourse? It’s not like anyone will sue over 7€…

Why can’t this be like that?

Because our highly corrupt, neo-liberal wannabe overlords hate the fact that we have basic privacy and data protection laws.

So every bit of digitalisation with government involvement has to be a non-funtional and totally insecure shit show so they can then lie and pretend that a) we need to remove data protection laws that are to blame for all problems and b) only big tech can do it properly so we really, really need to sell our private data to them (also c) <add random AI buzzword bingo gibberish> ).

You could at some time print out your ticket (depending on where you bought it) as a QR code . But that meant you wouldn’t need to use the DB App which is an insane security and privacy nightmare constantly breaking laws without any consequences. So they needed to limit that option and again lied about how that code can magically not save the info of who is the owner of that ticket (because… you know… basic cryptographic methods don’t exist…).

PS: Just so this isn’t just purely a rant, here’s a list of companies that still allow to get the Deutschlandticket as a chip card to avoid that horrific app.

When I cross the Atlantic I pdf or screenshot the plane ticket. Never had a problem. Why can’t this be like that?

Because we rarely do the sensible things in Germany, especially when it comes to digitalization related things.

pkpass is extremely seldom used here. I stumbled upon that format once or twice and I think I could import the files into Catima on Android.

Normally your transport association has it’s own App, like for example the DB Navigator, where you log in with your account and besides from looking up trips, your ticket is stored.

People could help you better if you told us the city/region.

The explanation is easy: Public transport has lots of tight regulations. The use of pkpass files is not in these rules, therefore nobody uses it directly.

The use of screenshots or PDFs is not secure. Fraud would be way too easy if they allowed it. Airplane tickets are an exception: because there are so many passport checks at airports, forged tickets are rare.

If I remember correctly, pkpass is a Apple standard. So maybe you can import the file into a wallet app. Then it may become usable for you. But that’s just a wild guess.

If you have a .pkpass file you probably could import it into FossWallet (don’t know if this works for the Deutschland ticket, would be great if you could tell me :P).

Edit: I just realized you don’t have that lol.

It used to be that you could print out the Deutschlandticket. I don’t live in Germany but have visited a few times since it started to be a thing; the first Deutschlandticket I ever had, I printed out and stored in my wallet. Abolishing that was a step backward.