9-Euro-Ticket(bahn.com)
bahn.com
9-Euro-Ticket
https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/9-euro-ticket-en
585 comments
I would argue making it free and keeping it free would have been a cool move.
- Less/no expensive accounting
- Less/no personnel for checking tickets
- Less/no personnel for prosecuting people who don't have tickets
- Less/no ticket vending machines (and all the maintenance that comes with it)
- Less traffic on the roads since you can't beat "free" and hence less emissions (at least in hamburg trains operate on green energy) and less wear on the roads (might be offset by the wear on trains and busses)
- Fully non-discriminant with respect to income
I have no idea if that would work for inter-city transport but for inner-city transport the HVV for example (the public transportation network responsible for hamburg and surrounding areas) sells 30 million tickets a year and I wonder how much it truly costs them to do that with all the relevant factors mentioned above.
I have no idea if that would work for inter-city transport but for inner-city transport the HVV for example (the public transportation network responsible for hamburg and surrounding areas) sells 30 million tickets a year and I wonder how much it truly costs them to do that with all the relevant factors mentioned above.
Some context is given here: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-introduces-9-ticket-to-offset-...
The ticket is part of a support package signed off by the German parliament. The will pay approximately €2.5 billion for the ticket offer, as a response to rising energy prices and the resulting high costs of individual mobility.
The ticket is part of a support package signed off by the German parliament. The will pay approximately €2.5 billion for the ticket offer, as a response to rising energy prices and the resulting high costs of individual mobility.
For anyone wondering why 9€? Not 10€ or 15€ or ... - its consistent with 101 consumer psychology.
First: Its not free, its subsidized by the state. Free would suggest for some "not worth it". Not you, most likely, but this is why some free offers are not taken (seriously). If you want to see what free does, look for the Luxemburg experient: https://www.mobiliteit.lu/en/tickets/free-transport/
Second: Higher price point would make a difference for less subsidy payments for the state, but the psychology is "not even 10 bucks". I know that some will argue that 10 Euros will be hard for low income/poor/out of the system people - but again, this is seen as an experiment and a simple message. The data from the usage will help to understand how one can/might change public transportation on a grand scale.
Third: Its during the summer holidays. People with children in school have to book vacation during that time and so the traffic volume in every year before was less than usual on average. In reverse, a lot of people are on the autobahn and the high speed trains on the first and last days of each school holiday, which are different in each federal state.
First: Its not free, its subsidized by the state. Free would suggest for some "not worth it". Not you, most likely, but this is why some free offers are not taken (seriously). If you want to see what free does, look for the Luxemburg experient: https://www.mobiliteit.lu/en/tickets/free-transport/
Second: Higher price point would make a difference for less subsidy payments for the state, but the psychology is "not even 10 bucks". I know that some will argue that 10 Euros will be hard for low income/poor/out of the system people - but again, this is seen as an experiment and a simple message. The data from the usage will help to understand how one can/might change public transportation on a grand scale.
Third: Its during the summer holidays. People with children in school have to book vacation during that time and so the traffic volume in every year before was less than usual on average. In reverse, a lot of people are on the autobahn and the high speed trains on the first and last days of each school holiday, which are different in each federal state.
When it gets crowded in Tokyo trains you are literally pushed against each other, back to front people against people, specially bad in summer where the aircon cannot keep up. That's only at 9am normally though, and so I do not consider jobs that make me be in the office at that time (9:30~10 is an order of magnitude better). WFH has been a blessing to Tokyo.
So it was funny when I visited my sister in a rural town in England, and there was a festival so we took the bus to get there. It was obvious the bus was more crowded than usual, and people were grumpy, but from my point of view it was almost empty; people were within an arm's distance from each other, which for the locals probably used to less than half the people that was very crowded.
I wonder if the same will happen on the trains in Germany. Japan is used to this though, and they have powerful ventilation and aircon systems to alleviate the situation in summer.
So it was funny when I visited my sister in a rural town in England, and there was a festival so we took the bus to get there. It was obvious the bus was more crowded than usual, and people were grumpy, but from my point of view it was almost empty; people were within an arm's distance from each other, which for the locals probably used to less than half the people that was very crowded.
I wonder if the same will happen on the trains in Germany. Japan is used to this though, and they have powerful ventilation and aircon systems to alleviate the situation in summer.
For comparison: The equivalent, non-subsidised "Quer durchs Land"-Ticket costs 42€ for one person per day (70€ for 5 people per day) -- https://www.bahn.de/angebot/regio/qdl
The German government did that to compensate for rising gasoline prices. While I think that is in general appreciated by the public, I am not quite sure how many people aged 45 above will use this ticket. They trains will be super crowded this summer and people will just prefer to use their car instead.
Im really curious to what extend this will affect how full/busy regional transit will be.
I also wonder what happens to the people who control tickets fulltime. Their job seems pretty pointless when almost everyone has the ticket.
I also wonder what happens to the people who control tickets fulltime. Their job seems pretty pointless when almost everyone has the ticket.
Wild - that gets me barely a days worth of tube travel in london (6.5 EUR a day)
I'm sure the private bus operators, who usually are the only cheap option to travel in Germany, are just thrilled by this additional market distortion.
Very cool. Reminds me of the "Wochenende-ticket" DB sold in the 90s. It was something like 30DM and was good for travel on all regional DB trains for up to 5 people.
I used it with a group of friends to travel to Berlin from The Netherlands in 1993. I was a bit of a rail geek (still am, I guess) and had purchased a "Kursbuch" on a previous trip to Germany. This was a 2000 or so page, 3 pound book that contained all the timetables for all German trains. We pored over the timetables for hours to find an optimal route from the closest German border station to Berlin. I remember it being relatively few trains, something like Bad Bentheim - Osnabrueck - Bielefeld - Kassel - Dessau (!) - Berlin. It was a fun trip, lots of people were traveling long distance on local trains and Berlin attracted very...interesting people at that time.
After arriving in Berlin we sold our ticket, which was still good for another day, for 15DM.
I used it with a group of friends to travel to Berlin from The Netherlands in 1993. I was a bit of a rail geek (still am, I guess) and had purchased a "Kursbuch" on a previous trip to Germany. This was a 2000 or so page, 3 pound book that contained all the timetables for all German trains. We pored over the timetables for hours to find an optimal route from the closest German border station to Berlin. I remember it being relatively few trains, something like Bad Bentheim - Osnabrueck - Bielefeld - Kassel - Dessau (!) - Berlin. It was a fun trip, lots of people were traveling long distance on local trains and Berlin attracted very...interesting people at that time.
After arriving in Berlin we sold our ticket, which was still good for another day, for 15DM.
Keep in mind that this is the website from Deutsche Bahn, which operates a lot of trains, regional trains and local trains. But not every public transport is from Deutsche Bahn. The 9-Euro-Ticket is valid for all public local transport, too - not just for the Deutsche Bahn.
The ticket is for local transport operators, too. One can also buy the ticket there. A subscription ticket will be automatically converted. One can for example buy it at the local Verkehrsverbund (transit district), which here serves in Hamburg several million people with all kinds of regional trains, city trains, underground trains, busses, ferries, ...
Thus one can use all (!!!) local and regional public transport for 9 Euro for a month, 24 hours a day, for all of Germany, for all public transport operators. The is done for three months, each month costs 9 Euro.
The ticket is for local transport operators, too. One can also buy the ticket there. A subscription ticket will be automatically converted. One can for example buy it at the local Verkehrsverbund (transit district), which here serves in Hamburg several million people with all kinds of regional trains, city trains, underground trains, busses, ferries, ...
Thus one can use all (!!!) local and regional public transport for 9 Euro for a month, 24 hours a day, for all of Germany, for all public transport operators. The is done for three months, each month costs 9 Euro.
Hopefully this measure will persist even when (and if) inflation goes back to "normal" levels back again, imo heavily subsidised public transport is the way to go if we want to reduce car use.
Asking people for a lot more money in order to decrease the regular use of their cars (either through higher gas prices or forcing them to purchase relatively expensive newer EVs) is really not fair if you don't offer something in return.
Asking people for a lot more money in order to decrease the regular use of their cars (either through higher gas prices or forcing them to purchase relatively expensive newer EVs) is really not fair if you don't offer something in return.
Traveling through Germany with regional trains was one of my favorite pastimes back in the 90s, but the prices have increased dramatically: The "Wochenendticket, which was valid either on Saturday or Sunday, started in 1995 costing around 11 EUR (inflation-adjusted), and ended costing 40 EUR in 2016 (also inflation-adjusted).
I am happy that they are experimenting with bringing it back.
I am happy that they are experimenting with bringing it back.
These are going to be wild chaos days.
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/chaosta...
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/chaosta...
I can't seem to find information on whether it is possible to purchase the ticket as a non German citizen.
In Luxembourg, all public transport is free for everyone. I was just there, and as a tourist, it saved me a lot of hassle not needing to figure out where and how to buy which ticket. Jump hop on any train, bus or tram :).
And yes, I understand why this wouldn't work well in other countries.
And yes, I understand why this wouldn't work well in other countries.
I wish they would restore stopover functionality on the international booking site (https://www.international-bahn.de/). I remember back when you could book a London to Berlin fare (for example) with Eurostar included, with stopovers up to 48 hours along the way. Amazing value for tourists - often you could visit multiple Belgian/German cities for not much more than what the Eurostar fare would cost alone.
The standard bahn.de site still allows stopovers, but since the pandemic you can no longer book Eurostar segments through it. Sad face.
The standard bahn.de site still allows stopovers, but since the pandemic you can no longer book Eurostar segments through it. Sad face.
Denmark is doing a similar thing ...
I'm extremely not excited about how insanely rammed the public transportation is going to be for the next three months
Already here in Hamburg the busses are not at all empty!
Already here in Hamburg the busses are not at all empty!
they should rather subsidize heat pumps to replace aging gas heating systems prevalent in the 1960s homes here. Would help to reduce energy dependency on russia
The region of Skåne in Sweden has a similar initiative, although not as cheap: a "summer ticket" valid for 3 months that costs ~70 EUR and includes any form of travel in the region. Similar offers exist in the other regions of Sweden.
Unfortunately for me who commutes to Copenhagen on a daily basis for work, this offer does not include trips to Denmark (monthly ticket costs ~250 EUR).
Unfortunately for me who commutes to Copenhagen on a daily basis for work, this offer does not include trips to Denmark (monthly ticket costs ~250 EUR).
For comparison, in Berlin the monthly ticket for the A-B zones (does not reach the airport) costs €86, and a 4-ticket pack €9.40. A €9 monthly ticket is an insane bargain, even if you only plan on using public transport within the city.
(source: https://www.bvg.de/de/tickets-und-tarife)
(source: https://www.bvg.de/de/tickets-und-tarife)
For comparison, the federal government is dead bent on building additional 4.1km of highway through Berlin that is estimated to cost over 500 million. And the critics say it will balloon to billions since the estimate is 10 years old anyway.
So basically millions of people will ride the train for three months for almost free, and the cost will be in the same ball park as 4km of one highway.
So basically millions of people will ride the train for three months for almost free, and the cost will be in the same ball park as 4km of one highway.
Imagine something like this for the whole EU.
This is fantastic. Despite the warnings to not count on it, these local trains generally will transport your bicycle. So you can go for a bike ride some distance from your home location (or from your home location and return by train if you don't feel like riding back). Practically for free.
I assume this doesn't apply to urban rails like the MVV in Munich, etc. Has to be DB operated.
The idea behind it is to keep the idiots commuting just to sit down in the wage cage 9000. It’s for three months only btw and just a trick to improve acceptance of the new German Poverty caused by very bad political decisions.
Nice!
And here I am in Belgium, stuck with the SNCB/NMBS, a small country where doing a few miles by train takes an hour, the trains are always late, there's no place to sit, and it's expensive.
I love Belgium, but not its trains.
And here I am in Belgium, stuck with the SNCB/NMBS, a small country where doing a few miles by train takes an hour, the trains are always late, there's no place to sit, and it's expensive.
I love Belgium, but not its trains.
I know DB is owned by the state but I'm anyway interested in whether the difference to the original price is subsidized by the state. Or if it's just a special offer that allows them to cover expenses.
These tickets are good for all “Nah- und Regionalverkehr,” explicitly excluding ICE, IC, EC (international) and long-distance busses (like the one between Munich and Zürich)
If the train number begins with RE or RB, you’re good, but of course, those are the slow ones that stop in every village along the way.
This is for the benefit of people who live here and are struggling with 2 EUR/liter fuel, not the kind of people who blithely paid 60 EUR to take the ICE. There does not appear to be any residency requirement, but remember, you’re not the target market for this (unless you live here and are struggling with fuel prices…)