Germany to introduce nationwide €49/month public transit pass | Hacker News Reader

Germany to introduce nationwide €49/month public transit pass

apnews.com

28 pointsGadiguibou17 comments

It's not going to sell as much as the 9 Euro Ticket, but it's going to get a lot of commuting people out of cars and into trains. Even going from neighboring small-medium towns is roughly 100+ monthly. People using cars like certain advantages a car has and the prices were in the ballpark in the past, but with current prices those advantages become meaningless quick.

As a lot of things it's a compromise, but overall I think it's a good thing.

From an infrequent visitor, EUR49 a month for all public transportation is reasonable. Also I can just buy a digital ticket before coming to Germany and then use it in any cities sound fantastic.

Sounds awesome if they can pull it off. I'd love to have the interurban back in the USA. Since they already got one, this looks doable.

It depends. Covid is still out there, so I'm wary to use public transport, no matter how cheap it is. I'm even more wary of using slow mode across large distances. Even without Covid or other plagues, it is often full to the max, dirty/smelly and not on time.

That aside, it would make more sense to have a monthly ticket for something between 10 to 20EUR for a region, which could be topped up for longer distances, as needed. In a simple way, to get rid of the tariff chaos.

So much of your comment makes me sad. I do hope that in the future you can bear to be in the same carriage as me without feeling fearful.

As much as I think that comment was hyperbole, I do hope in future all public places are well ventilated. I took my co2 meter around to trains and planes and there’s so much to improve (esp when boarding).

There’s so much effort put to clean surfaces… wonder how does it compare vs air-born infections. For covid it took so long for hand cleaning mania to go away and masks to come back.

Covid is a deadly disease, and wishing to limit one’s unnecessary exposure to potential infection neither implies nor denotes that one is fearful.

One need not be afraid to avoid unnecessary hazards.

Sigh... It's all a matter of probabilities. I've used and do use public transportation. But only if I absolutely have to. Otherwise I'm minimizing it.

See it the other way around: I'm still unvaxxed! So my reluctance is protecting U ;->

For reference, a transit pass JUST for Toronto costs like $200, and you can't even travel outside Toronto proper.

That’s a very, very reasonable price.

> The proposal follows a wildly successful “9-euro ticket,” which was on offer in Germany for three months this summer

I don't like this sort of misleading hyperbole.

It is obvious that essentially free travel during the peak travel season would sell like hot cakes, it does not tell us anything new, though.

> “With the 9-euro-ticket we showed: simplicity is better,” Transport Minister Volker Wissing said Thursday

Simplicity might be better but this really showed that people like a free lunch, unsurprisingly.

What absolutely uninformed BS.Germanys public transit is organized in many small organizations making it basically impossible to understand what ticket you need to get from point A to point B in many cases. Due to this, a single ticket for Germany simply did not exist.For 50 Euros, this ticket only allows usage of slow public transport like buses and local trains. This is hardly cheap, yet due to it simplicity it makes it viable for a lot of people when the current tickets weren't before.

I am sure you can make your point without insulting.

I agree that simplicity helps. I am simply pointing out that providing an in-demand service for essentially free will always be "successful". Politicians are trying to spin the obvious as a breakthrough that fits their agenda, that's all.

Don't shoot the messenger.

> Politicians are trying to spin the obvious as a breakthrough that fits their agenda, that's all.

Because it IS a breakthrough. Breaking the barrier between local public transport organizations has been unthinkable for literally decades and may be one of the single greatest achievements of the governing coalition. Painting this as "everyone likes free stuff" is just the same "oh that's socialism" dribble from conservatives all around the world that prevents any progress being made at all.

They didn't only broke the barriers between organisations, they also made the ticket essentially free. It sold like hot cakes because of the price.

That's a classic fallacy in interpreting experimental results.

I do not deny that breaking barriers between organisations is indeed good and a positive.

Edit: there is nothing ideological in my comments and I am not 'refusing' anything. I am just pointing out what seems obvious to me: free is better and politicians spin things to their advantage.

I am currently paying 70€ for a ticket for my city alone. Even at 49€ it's still essentially free given German standard of living. Combined with the unprecedented range it offers this will still make a huge impact on public transport in Germany for decades to come. Even a 10% increase in usage of public transport would make a huge difference in the long term. You must also consider that currently many local transport organizations force companies into a take it or leave it situation when it comes to offering tickets for their employees, students of universities and schools. All this becomes revolutionized by this, because it's out of their hands now. The price is almost secondary in that regard, because now the choice to use public transport instead of a car becomes significantly easier. There are still lot's of problems to be solved but this is a significant step forward.

edit just a personal anecdote to add to that. When I studied, my girlfriend moved two states over in Germany. At that time my university ticket only covered the state I lived in. Making visiting her cost me at least 84€ in total, while traveling for 8 hours per trip. I remember several times where I had to borrow money from friends and parents to meet her at all. With that ticket, I wouldn't have had to. And I am very happy for all the younger people after me that will not have to suffer through that bullshit because our politicians actually did something good for once.

Why shouldn't the ticket be free, even? Is your refusal purely ideologically motivated, or can you back it with some evidence? It has been proved over and over that cheap and widespread public transportation is good for society.

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