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Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

euobserver.com

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Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#11

Post by [deleted] »

DocTomoe wrote: post #9
raverbashing wrote: post #4

Really? > When travelling from Copenhagen to Warsaw or Lisbon to Marseille People pick the train because those trips are far enough to make the train a hassle But I can enter the origin train company sites (or the operator) and buy a ticket to another country "pretty easily" (for the last couple of times I did this). In fact buying online was easy enough.

This depends on your train operator. Deutsche Bahn won't even tell you prices to most international destinations (especially those DB doesn't itself service) and asks you to come in in person to one of the few remaining ticket sales booths OR call a hotline. They happily let you select a train ride from Madrid to Wladivostok, including all intermediary stations ... but you can't buy the ticket. Same for Berlin to Rom…

[deleted]

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#12

Post by raverbashing »

DocTomoe wrote: post #9
raverbashing wrote: post #4

Really? > When travelling from Copenhagen to Warsaw or Lisbon to Marseille People pick the train because those trips are far enough to make the train a hassle But I can enter the origin train company sites (or the operator) and buy a ticket to another country "pretty easily" (for the last couple of times I did this). In fact buying online was easy enough.

This depends on your train operator. Deutsche Bahn won't even tell you prices to most international destinations (especially those DB doesn't itself service) and asks you to come in in person to one of the few remaining ticket sales booths OR call a hotline. They happily let you select a train ride from Madrid to Wladivostok, including all intermediary stations ... but you can't buy the ticket. Same for Berlin to Rom…

Yes that's why I say, buy it on the operator of where you're leaving from. Doesn't make much sense trying to buy at a 3rd party.

(for DB specifically it seems that international-bahn.de can determine the price for some trips)

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#13

Post by atomflunder »

I travel between Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland somewhat regularly, not rarely passing through 3 of the 4 countries for a given trip. I use the Austrian national railway‘s (ÖBB) app to book my tickets, I get a single QR code on my phone that is valid for all legs of my journey, gets scanned by the personnel of whatever country‘s railway company, and I‘m good. Never had any problems whatsoever.

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#14

Post by nraynaud »

batushka3 wrote: post #6
1cvmask wrote: post #3

Apparently there is little current economic incentive (or regulatory push) to streamline the process and take on airlines in cross-border travel: Railway companies are national in nature and by history. The share of cross-border travelling is small; the income mainly comes from national rail. - Obviously if they streamlined the process to take on airlines their revenue would increase. But perhaps the cost of streamli…

Also revenue comes from freight, passenger transport is just a subsidised public service.

knowing the cost of a bullet train railway, and the fact that freight trains don't use them, I'm skeptical, as far as I know, it's tax money and debt that "pays" for it.

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#15

Post by reacharavindh »

One thing I particularly enjoy traveling by public transport within European countries is the use of a "travel card" - Rejsekort in Denmark and OV Chipkaard in Netherlands. They work as a simple card that you can "beep beep" whenever you use public transport and it works out the payment from attached bank account/card. It makes travel by public transport hassle-free. I only wish in this digital age, all EU countries co-operate and make these systems inter-operate so that for example, one can have a Danish Rejsekort, and travel to Netherlands by train, and go around the town in public transport using the same "beep beep". Now, make that acceptable in long distance trains as well, and imagine how convenient that would be!!

EU can clearly make a nice case for this because it will improve efficiency and usage (thereby netting profit) for member countries. There needs to be leadership and will to make it happen!!!

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#16

Post by tristor »

I didn't find riding the train around Europe to be complex, if anything it was a bit more straightforward than air travel in the US domestically because I didn't have to go through absurd security theater as part of the process. I have done many many cross-country train trips in Europe without issue.

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#17

Post by Freak_NL »

lqet wrote: post #7

Sometimes this complexity can lead to nice loopholes. Some time ago I wrote a comment [0] which explained how we once tricked ourselves into a 1,500 km, 7 day train trip for 39 EUR: > Deutsche Bahn had (and still has I think) a "Europe Special" where you could buy a ticket from any town in Germany to any town in Europe for 39 EUR flat. Our idea was to travel through Croatia for a few weeks, starting from Zagreb. Sure…

As a train loving Dutchman the German bahn.de website is my go-to destination for any travelling from the Netherlands to Germany. It's just so much more convenient than the Dutch NS website.

Fun loophole with those minimum transfer times, was it patched since? It's not something I would use; I don't mind paying a fair price for what is a form of transport much more sustainable than air travel, although I do like to figure out economically frugal routes.

Having to have an argument with a conductor isn't my idea of leisurely travel either. I could manage in Germany, but I once had an Italian train conductor who didn't understand the (valid and very popular) Interrail tickets we had and just got annoyed. She gave up thankfully and move on in a huff.

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#18

Post by Mordisquitos »

You think that's bad? Spanish train operator Renfe's website [0] (which has been "redesigned" time and time again to much fanfare over the years) is incapable of offering tickets for any journey between two stations if there's no direct train between them, unless a specific option changing trains has been manually defined on their system. Neither will it display commuter train services, even though stations served by commuter trains do appear in the drop-down.

[0]: https://www.renfe.com/es/en

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#19

Post by Freak_NL »

reacharavindh wrote: post #15

One thing I particularly enjoy traveling by public transport within European countries is the use of a "travel card" - Rejsekort in Denmark and OV Chipkaard in Netherlands. They work as a simple card that you can "beep beep" whenever you use public transport and it works out the payment from attached bank account/card. It makes travel by public transport hassle-free. I only wish in this digital age, all EU countries…

These cards are useful for commuting and local transport (OV-Chipkaart, by the way), but when travelling for leisure you do miss out on useful deals that way. In the summer season there are lots of discounts to be had on the Dutch train network, with savings up to 80% of the regular price depending on destination and availability of special discounts.

For international travel planning and booking ahead of time usually means you can get very large discounts as well that would not be possible with a check-in-whenever-you-travel type of card.

Re: Why are cross-country train tickets in EU still so complex?

#20

Post by bullen »

1cvmask wrote: post #3

Apparently there is little current economic incentive (or regulatory push) to streamline the process and take on airlines in cross-border travel: Railway companies are national in nature and by history. The share of cross-border travelling is small; the income mainly comes from national rail. - Obviously if they streamlined the process to take on airlines their revenue would increase. But perhaps the cost of streamli…

This and the kerosene is tax free, which is impossible to compete with.
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