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tweet by amtrak ben: i think we should build high speed rail next to freeways only because it would make drivers feel like complete losers all the time
edit: fixed alt text
tweet by amtrak ben: i think we should build high speed rail next to freeways only because it would make drivers feel like complete losers all the time
edit: fixed alt text
The one thing Germany did right in the last like 20 years: Deutschlandticket. One ticket, 49€ per month, regional/local public transport for all of Germany. I can literally take a bus from my apartment to the train station, hop on an RE train and go wherever I want, and then take the local bus in that town.
It doesn’t include long haul highspeed trains, but the regional trains will still get you almost everywhere.
And if you travel a lot and invest in a BahnCard 50, long distance trains are not that expensive anymore. A Flex ICE ticket from Nuremberg to Hamburg will cost you 80€. Fuel will be more expensive. Well, if you buy the ticket a week earlier, you can get it very cheap like 13€.
BC 50 is only a good option if you frequently need to go on short notice – you get 50% of the Flexpreis, but the same Sparpreis offers as the BC 25, which costs about 1/4 of the BC50.
If you are flexible and can stay out of the busy hours you can still get great deals with the BC25.
I recently booked Berlin to Cologne for 2 people first class for 60€ total. On the way back the train had 2h delay, so I got 40€ refund. All in all about 100€ for a two people round trip.
And if someone wants to start the “2h delay!!!1!” talk: It would have been way worse on the highway, which had a major traffic jam for most of the day. Meanwhile I sat comfortably in the restaurant with beer, currywurst and fries (to quote Harald Juhnke: “no appointments and slightly tipsy” 👋)
Germans complain a lot about DB, it’s a national hobby, but compared to France (tgv pricey as fuck!), Britain (basically 0 high speed): ICE is a pretty damn good service at a very affordable price, especially with a BC25. Sure, it should be faster on many stretches where the tracks can’t handle high speed yet, but you really can’t beat the ICE price and comfort level on many travels if you book a bit in advance.
Well, I mean… this is a bit of a “both sides” thing, maybe. We’re in a not too bad spot, but could do much better, both things can be true I think.
A lot of it is valid criticism, and the situation is quite dire and will be for the unforeseeable future now. And just because the UK is a neoliberal hellhole doesn’t mean Germany should become one as well.
But yeah, there’s also a lot of non-constructive complaining, which frequently comes from people who aren’t even using public transport and just want to justify why they have (“”“neeeed”“”) a car.