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pete762 | 2 years ago

Just make it mandatory (basically tax) and remove all those garbage ticket systems, people checking the tickets etc... Getting rid of so much overhead

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bluGill|2 years ago

Only if the trains are given enough budget that there is a train every 5 minutes (or less) at every station, the train routes provide reasonable ability to get anywhere, and the trains run "fast".

No train system in the world has all of that, which in turn means they need more money and so free riders harm the system's ability to get people where they want to go.

aziaziazi|2 years ago

I think gp point was that making it mandatory (or tax) would increase the budget of Deutsche Bahn.

roboben|2 years ago

Sadly it is illegal in Germany to have a tax for a specific thing. So that’s that. But then there is GEZ which is basically the same thing just for TV :shrug:

wolfi1|2 years ago

GEZ? Germany doesn't have the GEZ anymore. and why is it illegal in Germany to have a tax for a specific thing? they still have the "Soli"

ulfw|2 years ago

Bullshit. They tax anything and everything in Germany. There's taxes on insurance, taxes on tobacco, taxes on fuel...

As a random example here is a tax for sparkling wines. No, not import custom fees. A tax.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schaumweinsteuer

ulfw|2 years ago

Exactly. The stuff gets paid from taxes anyway. Let's be honest. The 49EUR doesn't cover the cost.

So why bother with the overhead in the first place? Make it free for everyone to use to hop/on/off as they please, like Luxembourg has done.

asmor|2 years ago

It's especially egregious the neoliberals here insisted it only be bookable as a subscription, not as a paper ticket. Mostly so that very low income / homeless people couldn't use it. Almost like they hate the poor or something.

kwanbix|2 years ago

While I really like the German transport system, and I have been paying it for 5 years, making it mandatory seems too much. What if I don't have a need for it? Or if I barelly use it?

aziaziazi|2 years ago

My taxes pays for many public infrastructures I don’t use too.

Taxes and public subsidies for infrastructures are especially powerful on networks because the output service is spread in many cross dimensional layers of the nation.