For 9 euros with the train through all of Germany. Even if only with local transport, the offer is tempting. I also bought tickets for the three months directly, but I have not yet decided whether and how to use them.
The offer is intended to relieve the burden on citizens and at the same time increase the attractiveness of local public transport. The price is only one factor of the attractiveness, and in my opinion the smallest one.
I don't often travel by public transport, even though I deliberately moved near the railroad line to my work. Five minute walk to the station, 30 minute train ride, transfer to the bus, and ten minutes later I'm at work. In the evening vice versa. So it's actually ideal. Actually.
The train only runs once an hour, is regularly delayed and usually completely full and dirty. I can neither plan with the connection nor do I really feel like sitting in the train, or standing in it. And at a price that until before the war in Ukraine was more expensive than the cost of fuel for the car (see the article Rainbow Road).
The idea of advertising mass transit is basically laudable. But the current state of public transport is not very effective for advertising. We are now showing yet another section of the population that Germany has spent the last few decades cutting the local transport system to the bone. Outdated and unreliable technology, too little capacity, unpunctual and expensive.
In the end, the 2.5 billion euros spent on the ticket help neither the citizens nor local public transport. When you consider that 100 billion euros in special funds were spontaneously pulled out of the air for the German armed forces, the 2.5 billion seem like a joke.
What would local public transport look like if we had these 100 billion available for local and long-distance transport? To modernize and expand local and long-distance transportation? And in the end, even reduce fares?
That would be a sign for the citizens and the environment. A real change instead of pure symbolic politics.
Stay fluffy!