[ckdot]

In Germany it’s not unusual that you need about 3x the time by train instead if you go by car. You can’t force those who have to commute to go by train. You have to force employers to provide (maybe not only provide, but enforce) remote work options for all the jobs where it’s simply not necessary to be on-site.

[mytailorisrich]

Right, public transport is also usually slower.

My point is that cutting ticket prices isn't going to make people suddenly use public transport because it's not an affordability issue.

[ido]

For some people it is. I personally know people here in Berlin (or rather around Berlin, zone c) that in the past would drive instead of taking transit into the city a couple times per week because if you already have a car it’s cheaper than buying the Berlin A-C monthly ticket (the one that takes you all the way from the suburbs the city center). This is now no longer the case, and being able to use the same ticket elsewhere in Germany is a nice little perk.

Obviously it depends on where in Germany you are but in/around Berlin while driving is often faster it’s usually not such a big gap because you’d be stuck in traffic in a car but not on the train. It would often be more like ~50 minutes instead of 40 (but then you can read a book on the Regio/S-Bahn instead of focusing ok driving).

[iggldiggl]

Unfortunately cutting ticket prices is the quick political win, so instead of actually better public transport we'll only get it cheaper…