Start-up Omio is angry with Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn releases live data from its trains to Google. A start-up from Berlin is not taken into account. Now the Federal Cartel Office is investigating the case.

The founder of Omio is angry with Deutsche Bahn. It has announced that in future it will share live data from its trains with Google Maps so that travelers can track and book trains without the DB app. Omio is a travel and booking portal that can also be used to compare journey times. However, Deutsche Bahn has not yet cooperated with the start-up. "This anti-cooperation by Deutsche Bahn is a blow to us," Omio founder Naren Shaam tells the Handelsblatt. The problem for Omio is that customers cannot yet combine train journeys and flights, for example, cannot see whether the train is on time and cannot make cross-border bookings. Omio is active in 37 countries and is particularly popular with international travelers.

The German Federal Cartel Office is now investigating the case and examining "the extent to which mobility platforms actually need access to current departure and delay data in order to be able to offer new mobility concepts such as integrated, intermodal travel chains", said Andreas Mundt, President of the German Federal Cartel Office, to Handelsblatt: "Access to real-time data is a key point of the investigation and the proceedings." The investigations have already been completed so far and both sides can now comment. It is not yet clear when a public result can be expected, and Deutsche Bahn refers to the latest cooperation as a "partnership of equals", meaning that both sides must contribute financially. "One thing DB does not do is make real-time and forecast data available to platforms as a matter of course and without any consideration," a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson told Handelsblatt. Omio, on the other hand, would like to earn money from Bahn's ticket sales via its own platform.