Not convinced. If your phone is dead or stole you can still move around just fine all over Europe. I have spent a pretty decent amount of time in the Netherlands in particular over the last fifteen years.
I understand having information conveniently available at your fingertips. That's great. My confusion had more to do with someone saying they need over a dozen apps to be able to travel. Sorry, travelling --by any medium-- predates apps and, for the most part, you don't need much more than a few pieces of paper.
I would not dare get on a flight while fully depending on data inside a phone. If anything happens to that phone you are screwed.
Welcome to 2017. I know where you are coming from, and I feel the same way, but we are part of a shrinking group. I pride myself on being able to find my way around unfamiliar places by simply studying a map beforehand (digital or paper) and having a basic grasp of the public transport options available there. When I drive a car, I can get where I want to be by simply using the signs and essentially just knowing the rough outlines of the topography.
I'm Dutch by the way, and I only ever use the 9292 service to check my itinerary and look for alternative routes if a delay or service cancellation occurs (although usually these are announced and/or provided for).
It's great that I am able to open up a web browser or some app before or during a trip to figure out if my itinerary needs changing or if a connection can be made, but I can't imagine having to depend on a dozen apps to figure out something as basic as where my gate is or when I should get out of the bus — buses announce there stops via scrolling text and usually voice, and why would you even get on a bus without knowing how many stops you'll be riding or even which direction it should roughly be heading?
There is a whole generation out there (severely generalizing, but it does feel this way sometimes) who completely lack the skills for even basic navigation. Their awareness shifted from actual to digital surroundings, their dependency on technology gradually increasing.
If people want to live like that; fine. But I find this increasing dependency on information fed to you rather than actively sought out worrying.
I made it a point to teach my kids how to familiarize themselves with their own city or a city they travel with using a map before allowing them to use Google/GPS for anything.
I know so many people who have absolutely no idea where they are and how to get places simply because they use a navigation app on their phone. Even simple concepts such as "this is approximately x distance south of our current location" escapes people who lose all positional awareness due to reliance on navigation apps.
Poor choice of words on my part. I don't NEED a dozen apps to travel; I am just somewhat annoyed that any two-gate airport in the world needs its own, poorly designed app. I want integration - after all, these apps aren't exactly rocket science.
Oh, and I don't rely on the apps. They are a convenience. I still have my itinerary on paper and ask for printed boarding passes just in case.
I'm not convinced about phone calls, because if your phone is stolen you can always go to a pay phone!
Sarcasm aside. The real answer is: Convenience. There are apps that make my life a lot more convenient. Dutch citizens live on public transport; I have never touched a car in my life. A bus stops at my station every 50 seconds. It is great to be able to quickly plan, get information about delays, allow yourself to take a nap and get woken up by a buzzer etc... It's just convenience. Yes you'll get along fine if you do your daily commute with same train, same bus, same boat. But as soon as you need to do something more exotic, it's nice for an app to have your back
I understand having information conveniently available at your fingertips. That's great. My confusion had more to do with someone saying they need over a dozen apps to be able to travel. Sorry, travelling --by any medium-- predates apps and, for the most part, you don't need much more than a few pieces of paper.
I would not dare get on a flight while fully depending on data inside a phone. If anything happens to that phone you are screwed.