Have I read that correctly that only French people shall benefit from this offer? That would really suck to see this discrimination between European nationalities
Excellent. I hope the next announcement is that the French and German tickets are interchangable, so I can take the Thalys to Paris and use my Deutschlandticket there for the metro. Maybe in ten years we can finally use such tickets all over Europe and make rail travel soooo much simpler. I’m sure buying the correct train ticket without getting shafted by the DB is one of the most complicated endeavours for tourists in Germany.
The benefit at least in Germany is for commuters. My monthly pass went from costing over 150€ to 49€ as I had to pass through two transit agencies to get from my home to work. The fact that every transit company sets their own fares and doesn’t cooperate with neighbouring companies is fully irrelevant now to the joys of many.
I don’t know if France is structured the same way, or if the plan of this is also to include local transport, but the Deutschlandticket is saving me a lot of money and headache.
The German pass looks really cool as it includes all rail transport in and between cities. The French pass seems really underwhelming compared to the German one. It only includes TER and inter cities but you still have to pay additional fees to travel locally and it can be very expensive in Paris.
Yes. The price of a subscription for unlimited public transport in Paris and the surrounding areas is more than 80€/month. So if such a pass were to actually offer all public transport it would be a huge net loss since all Parisian would switch to it and start paying much less.
On the other hand public transportation subscriptions in smaller cities is much much less expensive, so for non Parisians this may not be worth that much.
Not sure how that would play out regarding redistribution of wealth.
I mean, that’s exactly what happened in Germany. Instead of 110€ for local and regional trains in Stuttgart, I pay 49€ for local and regional trains in all of Germany.
The ticket is immensely subsidized by the government. The transport agencies are basically compensated for these losses.
I recently travelled to cologne by train using only the €49 ticket. Should’ve taken 15h but due to delays it took 17h. Had to change teains like 6 or 7 times… maybe not the best way to travel through germany. The same route takes about 6h using a direct ICE connection.
Dude, you’re hardcore. Without the ICE I simply would not visit any of my relatives. Already pisses me off that it takes 2h of regional trains to get to my mom. I can take 6h ICE … in first class with my laptop, wifi and power. But dude. 15h in regional trains, wtf?
But did you know that the German minister in charge of the railways, a liberal*, has already questioned the costs of the ticket and announced he’d not participate in any additional funding?
Alright. I took issue with “it makes sense”, because I disagree with that part. As I’ve already pointed out, you kind of have to ignore the things that actually matter.
But even then, it’s not like we have to strengthen the strongest industry either. From a economical viewpoint, it’s also quite an excellent idea to invest into industries that will grow in the future, like solar power, wind power etc…
And with public transport, you don’t really invest in the traditional sense, because they don’t pay out directly, but there’s plenty studies on their huge economical benefits.
So, even with their massive focus on economical strength, I think they’re doing everyone, including their voters, a disservice. That is also why I’m calling them corrupt. This whole stunt only makes sense to me, if that earned them various donations from the car industry.
The FDP is first and foremost in favor of open markets and capitalism, and while they keep trying to tell people about all their socially progressive positions, they conveniently forget about most of them when they are elected. Neoliberalism fits their policy the best imo. (They are also corrupt to no end, who would have thought)
Very good start, but as a French I fear that it may not be complete until it starts to include the high speed lines (TGV) that are the most expensive but also the most competitive when trying to divert traffic from cars or planes
To be frank, I’m amazed by this announcement. I take TER every weekend and a two-way trip is 108€, 54€ (-50%) if you get the yearly pass which costs 30€. This would save me so much money.
Yes it doesn’t encompass TGV but with this 49€ ticket you can potentially get rid of many car commuters which is already a good thing :)
And the German government in charge of the ticket already voiced their interest in making both tickets compatible so that people can use the traffic in either country with the ticket of the other one
Could lead to a pseudo-standard that could result in an eu-wide ticket of such type in the long run
Having public transport available without having to worry about buying a ticket just because of the subscription you already have anyway is far better than interrail
This ticket is not for long distance travel but for shorter distances - it will be an extension to interrail and not a replacement
In Germany the ticket is only for regional trains - if you want to go from Berlin to Munich you’ll have to pay money to get there in 4 hours or spend the whole day travelling in 12+ hours
That’s for member states to implement, not the EU then. EU wide would mean freedom of movement, and if you couldn’t get over a border with an EU wide ticket, it’d be shit.
BTW: This is already possible with Germany and Luxemburg. There are mutliple connections between G and Lux that you can use with the 49 € ticket. And busses and trains in Luxemburg are pretty much all free anyway.
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