You have already experienced all of this at the Bavarian Regiobahn. Seven years ago, for example, on a Saturday evening, in midsummer, the best weather for excursions. The train that was supposed to take the excursionists back to Munich was already overcrowded. But when more passengers got on in Gmund am Tegernsee and wanted to get their wheels into the wagons, the situation escalated. A lengthy police operation followed, during which the police officers personally had to remove numerous bikes from the train until the journey continued at some point. The Bavarian Regiobahn (BRB) now has new trains, but some of the concerns are old. How is that supposed to happen when every passenger in Bavaria will soon be able to take their bike on the train for just one euro? This is what the state parliament decided in June. But whether, how and when it can work remains to be seen.
In any case, the BRB is now demanding exceptions for certain times and routes. Especially on nice excursion weekends and during the holiday season, the increasing number of passengers is “an enormous challenge” not only for train drivers and customer advisors, but also for the passengers themselves. The BRB already recommends avoiding bikes on the train at weekends or when the weather is nice, and expressly fears that the discounted bike ticket will “make the problem significantly worse.”
The BRB asserts that they are working on suggestions on how to deal with the expected rush and at the same time calls for the validity of the one-euro bicycle ticket to be limited depending on the route and time of day and for its introduction to be postponed until sufficient transport capacity has been created for the many bicycles . “Because the one euro for an ill-advised quick shot is not worth the trouble that passengers – whether with or without bikes – will get into on many routes.”
This kind of trouble is also common at Deutsche Bahn. From their point of view, bicycle transport is also “sometimes a challenge” and, depending on the train, route and demand, is already “sometimes very limited”. It is not possible to guarantee that bicycles will be taken with you on every journey because space on the trains is also needed for passengers in wheelchairs or strollers. There is currently “an intensive exchange” between everyone involved regarding the introduction of the ticket in order to clarify all open questions.
An open question is, for example, whether the discounted ticket will be introduced at the next timetable change in December, which the BRB fears and wants to prevent with its public initiative. Norbert Moy from the Pro Bahn passenger association is conflicted on the issue. In principle, train and bike are “a great combination”, and not just for day trippers, but also for many commuters and generally for all travelers whose start and destination are not directly at a train station. At the same time, Moy can certainly understand the BRB’s concerns. “You are already introducing a conflict into the trains,” says the Upper Bavaria chairman of Pro Bahn. The whole thing is “another political proposal that hasn’t been thought about for long.”
One euro per day has now become one euro per route
It is true that taking bicycles with you should no longer cost one euro per day, as the announcements by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) could initially be understood. But even one euro per single trip would be much more attractive than the current bike day ticket on regional transport for six euros. Moy fears that if more travelers with bikes are attracted without first having created the necessary capacity, there will be a risk of conflicts between passengers and with the train staff. Instead of the right effect in terms of transport policy, in the worst case scenario you will end up with “a lot of frustration”. The bicycle business is a seasonal business anyway, and Moy is avowedly not sure whether the business economists in the respective railway companies even consider it profitable.
The railway company Go-Ahead, which has its headquarters for Bavaria in Augsburg, is struggling with the same problems as the BRB and the DB. “We cannot create more capacity for bicycles – also because the route network and train stations do not allow for it,” says a spokeswoman. When the weather is nice, the routes to Lake Constance have long since reached their limits. “In case of doubt, we have to ask passengers with bicycles to leave the train so that other passengers without bicycles can still fit on the train – this is also very unpleasant for us, but unfortunately there is no other option in such situations,” says Go- Ahead. “We fear that a cheaper bicycle ticket will make these situations even worse.” However, excluding certain routes or times will only solve the problem to a limited extent: “On site there will be discussions and trouble for everyone.”