This is the best summary I could come up with:
The new €49 pass will offer passengers unlimited travel on TER regional services and intercity trains.
French people – irrespective of their age – can buy this pass and have unlimited travel on an intercity or TER for a flat, inexpensive price,” he told France 2.
TER trains connect local destinations within French regions and serve around 1.1 million passengers per day.
The French ticket aims to wean commuters off carbon-intensive forms of transport, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
With more than 52 million tickets sold, the pass has helped reduce carbon emissions from traffic.
German transport association VDV claims that it saved around 1.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions during June, July, and August this year.
The original article contains 509 words, the summary contains 118 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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
That would be amazing and would up the value of the EU as a connected zone.
So what? It’s for young people only. The kind that find your username “funny”. Just a meme bro!
Well, thankfully for other young people too. Leaves out the other part of the population. So this is welcome.
EDIT: I stand corrected, adults can also buy. Starting at 194€ for the right to travel four days a month in more than a single country.
There’s no age limit to interrail
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
Could lead to a pseudo-standard that could result in an eu-wide ticket of such type in the long run
Interrail allows you to train everywhere in Europe EXCEPT your home country.
It’s clearly meant to be used for traveling and not regularly.
On the other hand, a pass like that is meant for people that use train regularly in their home country.
It’s two very different products.
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 :)
Yes of course, and I’m all for it, I just hope it’s a first step and not the end
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?
God I hate this so much. If they take the ticket away again or make it like 5 times more expensive I will fucking riot (that is, rant on the internet)
I will fucking riot (that is, rant on the internet)
Spoke like a true German
Just for all non germans, not the american definition of liberal. He is FDP, so a right winger, anti poor people liberal.
Meanwhile, they have plenty money to subsidize people buying new cars. Corrupt asshats.
It makes sense tbh, it’s Germany’s largest and most profitable industry, subsidies keep it competitive on an international scale
No one will care how profitable our industry is, when the whole planet is engulfed in natural disasters…
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.
The German pass looks really cool as it includes all rail transport in and between cities
Not quite, you can only use regional trains, not the high speed intercity trains.
So for example, if you want to go from Frankfurt to Berlin, that usually takes 4.5 to 5 hours with either one or zero times you have to switch trains.
With the 49€ ticket that journey would take you between 8 and 10 hours on up to 6 different trains.
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.
Should’ve taken 15h
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?
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.
