The 9€ initiative

 

Photo by Pixel 2013 (Pixbay)

Germany not so recently ago decided to make the train ticket widely available for the cheap price of 9€ and that initiative came with tons of praise but as always I have my thoughts about this huge step in the right direction.

First things first, I understand where all the praise is coming from since given the circumstances it is time to do something about the bloody expensive public transport system in Germany. And lowering the prices can go a long way.

Germany has a history of encouraging its citizens to ditch their cars and use public transportations instead. Just like many countries around the world that want to become more eco-friendly. The problem at that time is that public transport is not cheaper than if one should go by car.

It is quite the opposite, sometimes it is cheaper to go by car even if one would consider the gas and parking prices (before 2022). Which just was ridiculous since the eco-friendly way should not be more expensive than the environmentally bad way.

Once, I even took a trip to Hannover to meet with my friend whom I haven´t seen in a long while. The trip to Hannover was quite pleasant and the train was not too full. I could work in peace without much interruption, which is all I need on my train ride.

However, the trip back was a pain in the ass since it did not stop at the station I intend to get off by due to some kind of failure. Which is just annoying. Not only did it not stop at the station even though it was planned but the reason for that detour was so vague.

Luckily, my father was kind enough to drive to Hannover to pick me up since my parents did not like the idea of me using the train this late and having to switch and wait an hour at a deserted train station. Frankly, their worry is not misplaced since at night some weird people would use the trains.

To be fair, I did wait a few hours before he arrived, and I did meet some weird people as well but at least not in close quarters. The worst part of waiting was when I went to a less crowded part of the train station because I became claustrophobic.

Older men just started to wait beside me. It was not even as if I just waited beside them, they all came to me so we can all stand uncomfortably as we wait. One or two men would have been fine but it was far more than two. Luckily, my father arrived before anything happened.

The next day, out of pure curiosity, I looked up the gas prices and calculated the distance between the cities. Since I wanted to be as accurate as possible, I even looked up the average parking prices. The number I got was nowhere close to what I paid. It was nearly half of what I paid.

When I am taking a train, I don’t have to drive, and I could instead do something productive to pass my time. However, I could save a lot of money, so it was a tough decision but since I loved to drive back then, I would have driven.

My point is that for many travelling via public transport is becoming harder and harder with rising prices and the string of failures that will haunt your trip. For instance, delays are common practice and when I say delay, I don’t mean a few minutes, I mean a few hours.

Therefore, when the 9€ ticket was announced, I was thrilled to know that the government was taking a step in the right direction. The government was not only encouraging people to become more eco-friendly, but they took initiative to make that happen, which I must applaud because the government I know only says but never does anything.

Frankly, I was not the only one excited about the ticket with which you can travel through the whole country. The only bad news at that time was that one cannot take the fast Intercity Express trains, which only leaves the slower and not-so-interconnected regional trains.

Regional trains are not as fast as intercity express trains and regional trains tend to stop at more stations than intercity express trains. This is not bad per se but if one intends to travel long-distance one has to calculate what time means to them.

Let me clarify with an example. For example, you want to travel from Hamburg to Frankfurt. With the intercity express, it will take a little over five hours nonstop. But with the regional express, it will take more than seven hours with at least two stops in between.

This dilemma does not stop there. Since delays are as mentioned common practice with the train transit system, you will have to take those under consideration since if one train delays and the other doesn´t you will play a very arduous waiting game.

 

And I don’t know about you but that just makes me anxious as hell since if you miss one train, you can simply take another, but you have to look it up and get to the right platform. That is just more trouble than it is worth.

Long story short, the long-awaited 9€ ticket already has some flaws. And mind you this is where it starts. Seriously, don’t get me wrong, I find this ticket incredibly forward-thinking and practical, especially for those who need it the most.

I know at this point Germans complaining about the train transit system has become a clique but that just proves how messed up the train transit system is. It is a rarity to find a topic all Germans can agree upon. So, it pains me to point out a few more flaws.

Since that plan was announced in May with a lot of excitement swirling around it, the July month finally came much to everyone´s delight. Many stormed towards the train stations to explore the country they are living in or just to pop by friends and family over the weekend. You know test the ability of this new cheap powerful ticket everyone has.

This is where the first problem also came from, overcrowding. In no way was it like the overcrowding I had seen on trains in Asia but in Germany, that was extreme. Once, first-class even opened up so the train staff could spread out the crowd a bit.

The first thing I noticed was many decided to travel even though they don’t need to. Not saying that no one should travel but this just made the people who needed the trains to get to their work on time delay big time.

Many passengers just took the trains just for the heck of it. This is just stressful for those who work on the trains and passengers on the train who need to use that train without delays. Again, not saying that no one should travel but travel more spread out to make the lives of train staff a tad easier.

For instance, I learned that I should not attempt to use the trains on the weekends because that is just wishing to get a panic attack when you are claustrophobic like me. Also, avoid rush hours to avoid daily commuters.

I found the trains are at the emptiest from Tuesday to Thursday when you get in at a less populated station at a rather empty time so anywhen from ten to three. This is a way to avoid crowds but some just don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing times they can go to work.

Luckily, masks were still mandatory on public transport in Germany otherwise that would be a super spreader event. Nevertheless, I did not feel as comfortable as before 2020 when someone sat next to me on the train. Not only was it hot but the person could have had corona.

The overcrowdedness led to even more delays than usual since some people just don’t know that they shouldn’t stand too close to the automatic doors which won´t close if people do stand too close to them for safety reasons.

Sometimes, I feel bad for the train conductor who has to remind people how automatic doors work at every station we stop at. The announcements get annoying after a few times for me as a passenger but imagen how it must feel for the conductor who already has enough on their plates.

I am not sure, but the overcrowded trains also took some damage since I heard that many doors stopped working and some communication systems within the train broke down, which is not good, to say the least.

Delays always lead to clashing arrival times with other trains. Which leads to many more delays and more clashes. It is a vicious cycle, which cannot be broken. Due to the huge demand, there probably were also more trains transporting passengers from a to b, which leads to more clashing if one should delay. It was a fight for the empty platform.

Besides passengers who cause delays, the ageing transit systems also caused a lot of delays. From the infrastructure to old computer systems which the trains rely on to run smoothly to the trains themselves, it is all slowly falling apart, which requires people to fix them which closes off train tracks which in turn causes delays.

All I am trying to say is that the 9€ ticket just placed more upon an already fragile train system. Now we can only wait and see where the breaking point of the train infrastructure is reached because I have a queasy feeling that we already reached that breaking point a long time ago but we didn’t do anything to fix it.

Don’t get me started on the condition of the train stations themselves. They look like they were built in the 1950s or earlier because most of them were. The architecture may have looked fabulous back in the day, but it is not as pretty as it used to be.

Besides the decaying architecture, the train stations are most of the time not the cleanest even though trash cans are everywhere. Besides human trash, there are also pigeon droppings, which is odd since train stations do have pigeon deter spikes. The trains themselves, it is not the cleanest either since the trains are old and one cannot seem to expect better.

However, one thing I have to point out is that the person who checks your ticket seemed to have disappeared since no one is coming to check the tickets anymore. Trust me, not once did they come to check the ticket since the 9€ ticket came out.

It could be because there are many people and checking everyone´s ticket could take an eternity, especially with dozens of people getting in at the next station. However, sometimes the trains are not filled to the brim and are rather empty but still, nobody came to check.

This leads me to my next hypothesis. They couldn’t be bothered to check because they believe that nobody will be greedy enough not to buy a 9€ ticket for their daily commute. It is 9€ for the whole month with which you could use trains, busses, subways, and other public transportation.

No one comes to mind when I think of people who would dodge that fare price. Except for maybe teenagers who are trying way too hard to be cool.

Okay, now I believe that I have complained enough about the train system in Germany. And again, the 9€ ticket just made existing problems worse. Again, the 9€ ticket is an amazing initiative from the government and similar initiatives would be greatly appreciated by many around the country.

Besides the resolved trust issues and great advantages, the 9€ ticket has one little trick up its sleeve. Not literally but the bill that passed the 9€ ticket also included an investment in the train transit infrastructure.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know the exact amount but it is a huge sum that could do a lot of good when directed towards the infrastructures that need it the most. I am excited about what good that investment in rail modernisation can do for Germany's daily commuters.

Maybe we will even experience a day when Germans no longer complain about the rail system in Germany.