Hacker News Reader

Comment by LittleNemoInS | Hacker News Reader

Just to clarify : In Switzerland, one can buy a CA Travelcard (for CHF3860 a year, approximately $3850). With this card, one can travel on (nearly) all public transports in Switzerland (trains, coaches, subways, trams, etc.) free of charge. Since the public transportation system is very good, it's a good way to travel.

View on HN

Ok, so the Austrian version costs less than a third of that for a considerably larger country. And the public transportation system is pretty good in Austria too...

In Germany it's also around 4k. EUR 4,027 for the BahnCard 100. We're much bigger than Switzerland, though.

https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/bahncard/bahncard_100-conditi...

EDIT: I can't find info on whether the German one covers city transportation... maybe it doesn't! - EDIT2: It does according to reply!

It covers most local transportation, but not all.

> The BahnCard 100 is also valid within the City-Ticket zone of all towns and cities covered by the City-Ticket offering

City ticket coverage: https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/tickets-for-local-transport

Oh that's actually a much better deal, then. A Berlin monthly ticket is 86 a month (ok... or 63 with a 1 year commitment), which is already 1/4 (or 1/5) of the 4k...

I maintain my car for for < 1000€ a year.

Given, I have a "car dude" that repairs and sells me used cars in good condition (I don't drive much at all), but even if you would spend a bit more, it isn't as competitive as it needs to be.

But other than that, cars are almost essential today. Have family you need to take care of? Good luck doing that with public transport. Doable perhaps if you quit your job...

> I don't drive much at all

Then why are you comparing your €1000 expense to this €4000 ticket? This ticket is for people who travel multiple times a week by train.

There are still normal tickets available in Germany, you don't have to pay 4000 a year for the privilege of taking a train once in a while.

Even city tickets are for people who travel every day.

... it's Switzerland. Everything is 3x more expensive and salaries are 4x higher. Just don't travel there.

... and only a third of the salary deductions you have in Ausria. Plus, you can choose your own health insurance. Seriously, don't travel there.

I mean, when I was in the area in 2005-2007 pretzels cost USD 2.50 in Germany and USD 7 in Switzerland ...

There were also steep discounts for students and youth for almost everything -- I got a public transit pass for 50% off because I was under 23 at the time.

I love the Brezel example. A freshly baked Brezel at the Trainstation Bern is like 3$. However if you need a human to cut it open and spread butter on it it costs $8.

Products ain't that much more expensive here, human time is.

Is there a bus to every tiny village the way there is in Switzerland? The long distance stuff is all well and good, but I suspect the expensive part is the rural last-mile which is heavily subsidized by the denser (heavier used, cheaper to run) city transit.

The rail network appears to be only 20% larger in Austria than Switzerland (5000 vs 6000 km Google tells me). Then the salaries of the people operating those transports are also higher in Switzerland. The GA is a pretty good deal already.

As Austrian living in Switzerland there definitely is a x3 value given here. It's unfair to directly compare given the price difference, but Austrian public transport is simply not on the same level in terms of: quality, speed, timing, connections, reliability (dozens of backup tracks), ..

Switzerland has a very strong currency which is a factor here. If the ticket alone doesn't make you poor, the coffee might.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com