The announced one-euro ticket for bicycles on Bavarian local rail transport starts on December 10th – but with numerous restrictions. The Bavarian Railway Company (BEG) announced this on Wednesday in Munich. It costs one euro per trip to take a bicycle on regional trains and S-Bahn trains in Bavaria – no matter how far, no matter how often you have to change. However, there are many exceptions regarding individual routes, certain days and times.
Some routes are completely excluded from use, including the heavily touristed lines southeast of Munich: via Rosenheim to Salzburg, to Kufstein and to Bayrischzell, Tegernsee and Lenggries. The ticket is also not valid on the regional express between Munich and Nuremberg, between Memmingen and Hergatz or on the line from Munich to Hof and Furth im Wald.
Even for journeys within a transport association, only the ticket offers of the respective association still apply. “Together with the associations and the railway companies, the Free State is aiming for the ticket to also be applicable for train journeys within transport associations by the summer of 2024,” said the BEG’s announcement. In addition, it should be evaluated to what extent validity restrictions could possibly be reduced.
In fact, the ticket is only valid from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m., i.e. not during the morning rush hour. From March 15th to October 3rd it only applies on Fridays between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. – because the trains are particularly full in the afternoons, it was said. On weekends, the new one-euro ticket is only available in the winter months, specifically between October 4th and March 14th.
According to the BEG, the new bike ticket is available at ticket machines as well as on the websites and apps of the railway companies. According to the BEG, passengers should continue to be able to use their existing tickets for times and routes that are outside the scope of validity, for example the Bavaria bicycle day ticket for 6 euros.
“The start in winter enables the railway companies and us to approach the introduction as a test phase,” said Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) at the start. He has already announced that they want to “develop” the ticket in the next few months. On the one hand, the General German Bicycle Club (ADFC) stated that they were happy that a first step was being taken to make taking bikes cheaper, at least temporarily. However, the actual goal of simplifying bike transport and making it more reliable has not yet been achieved – because of the many restrictions. The capacity for bicycles on the trains would have to be significantly expanded – and the initially necessary restrictions on tickets would have to be “lifted step by step as soon as possible”.