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Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

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Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#171

Post by cbmuser »

solarkraft wrote: post #71
busymom0 wrote: post #41

Can this have the potential of having the MoviePass type outcome? Also, wouldn’t this overcrowd public transit?

Overcrowding is the best thing that could happen, we need more public transport users as quickly as possible. Then, of course, the guy in charge who doesn't know how road signs work would have to take care of spending further investments, which is probably going to accidentally land in car infrastructure.

> Overcrowding is the best thing that could happen, we need more public transport users as quickly as possible.

Unless the capacity of public transport grows as well, no.

> Then, of course, the guy in charge who doesn't know how road signs work would have to take care of spending further investments, which is probably going to accidentally land in car infrastructure.

Roads aren't just for cars but also trucks which are the backbone of German logistics.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#172

Post by cbmuser »

e4e5 wrote: post #114
busymom0 wrote: post #41

Can this have the potential of having the MoviePass type outcome? Also, wouldn’t this overcrowd public transit?

There was already a 9€ ticket last year, while I wansnt in Germany at that time I didn't read a lot about overcrowding. With a more expensive ticket the effect will probably be even smaller today, though in the long run all trains will probably get more filled up.

> There was already a 9€ ticket last year, while I wansnt in Germany at that time I didn't read a lot about overcrowding.

There actually was a lot of overcrowding in the local and regional trains.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#173

Post by wunderland »

BasedGroyper99 wrote: post #31
thanatos519 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more: Public transport is a public good which should be funded by fossil fuel taxes and provided to users without cost.

Why is it a public good? It only benefits the individuals who are travelling. If I take the train to visit my sister, I don't see how that is in the public's interest.

Why should we all pay for roads and bridges? I don’t have a car. Why should the government pay for hospitals? I’m not sick.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#174

Post by FooBarWidget »

The Netherlands also has something similar: a country-wide public transit card. You put money on the card and then you can use it for all forms of public transport, checking in and out using that card. When it was introduced there was a lot of skepticism about whether it's a good thing, but now 10-15 years later I can't imagine not having it.

Likewise, there's a country-wide public transit planner, 9292.nl. It works across all public transit companies. Seeing how fractured other countries' public transit are, it's amazing how 9292 came to be. I have no idea why Dutch public transit companies decided to work together to make it possible.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#175

Post by ghaff »

Scoundreller wrote: post #167
bombcar wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every transit system should have a “tourist day pass” that is moderately expensive but allows you to use anything for 24 hours or so.

Integrate it into my visa (stamp). I’m also surprised airports don’t integrate it into their passenger fees and boarding passes. But maybe that’s getting a little too multi-modal to handle.

Depending on what I'm doing I often don't want to pay a lot for public transit because I won't use it much. And often don't even get a stamp, e.g. going to the UK from the US.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#176

Post by ghaff »

bombcar wrote: post #157
ghaff wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for visitors who may not even speak the primary language, public transit is awful in most places in terms of onboarding jet lagged visitors. Apparently no one does UX trials of people who have zero familiarity with the system and don't speak the language--though at least they maybe accommodate major Western languages. But, in general, it's pretty awful and you at least should do some research in advance.

Every transit system should have a “tourist day pass” that is moderately expensive but allows you to use anything for 24 hours or so.

City passes are mostly a lousy deal unless you're zipping here and there all day every day. Pay per use is almost always a better deal but you need to know the particulars and get the right card/amount.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#177

Post by neximo64 »

kelnos wrote: post #150
cromka wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Huh? How is the idea that public transit should be publicly owned Americentric? A stereotypical/caricatured Americentric take on that would be to privatize everything.

Because its publicly owned in most places publicly (Japan, China, Europe , Australia, Russia, India, South East Asia, Africa... It seemingly is only the US & Canada where it isn't

So bringing it up is very American since the comment doesn't work anywhere else.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#178

Post by wpietri »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #160
bahnkenner wrote: post #43

The biggest advantage of the new Germany-wide ticket is not the price, but rather that it simplifies things. This is a map of German public transit companies: [0]. I've heard the current fractured system be compared to the Holy Roman Empire. Every little region has its own ticketing system. If you arrive in a new city, you have to figure out how to buy local transit tickets, often with quite complicated rules (e.g.,…

Exactly. The new ticket is an excellent example of when national government can be superior to more local government: when the national government forces coordination to solve fragmentation problems, where local agencies lacked the... motivation to solve things on their own. On a technical level, it was always possible for different transit agencies to cooperate to simplify things for consumers, but they didn't, and…

Which reminds me to give a shout-out to the Clipper card. The SF Bay Area really did the right thing here. 24 different systems, all of which use the same card: https://www.clippercard.com/ClipperWeb/where-to-use.html

And they have now expanded that card-based system to include a mobile app, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, so now I just tap my phone and I'm all set.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#179

Post by bahnkenner »

morsch wrote: post #125
eliaspro wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're out of luck, if none of the route segments is served by Deutsche Bahn (which is often the case for regional routes), because then you'll be unable to buy your ticket using the most common nation-wide app DB Navigator.

That's not true, they sell tickets for many regional transport associations. https://www.bahn.de/angebot/regio/verbuende Not all of them, I'm sure, but all of the major ones seem to be covered. I'm using it every day, because it's better than using the association's own app, which is not saying much. Or I used to, anyway, now I'm doing the 49 EUR thing.

There are regions where the DB app will only sell you tickets that cross the region's borders, but not tickets that are wholly inside the region. There's even at least one region I know of that straight up does not do online ticketing. You have to buy physical tickets, in person, at a machine.

Re: Millions snap up new Germany-wide public transit ticket

#180

Post by bitL »

konschubert wrote: post #133
bitL wrote: post #132

While in Germany last summer, I used the 9 EUR ticket and regional trains to go from Frankfurt to Bavarian Alps. The trains were packed, one could not move there and it felt more like being in India than in Germany. I am wondering if that's going to be a norm in the future.

No, not going to be the norm. Because a) 49 >> 9 b) the 9 Euro ticket was a one-time novelty

49 >> 9 but 49 << monthly ticket at any regional transportation company so one could assume most people will own it and trains will be packed again.
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