It came up in page one news today within Germany.....that the Environmental Minister wants to create a tax on air flights. So the dramatics to this particular tax center on this one single concept....you simply can't have airline flights which are cheaper than train tickets. I know....logic might suggest that, but reality plays into it.
Here are two entirely different travel situations, built on differing profit and cost mechanisms. The Bahn folks have varying ticket options, which could easily lead to the cheapest ticket....you'd have to start the trip at a certain time, on a certain day. You could even go and buy the Bahn-card, which would discount your trip by 25-to-50 percent.
Certain Bahn routes have more frequent trains.....like the Hamburg to Berlin line.
Why the necessity of getting into this pricing business, and creating a fake reality? All connected to the C02 business.
The amount suggested? So far, the Minister has avoided that topic....my guess is that it'd be a couple of Euro and on up to maybe 30 Euro. The fact that the Bahn guys might be encouraged to jack their rate up forty percent, thus force the tax higher? Well, they could do that.
Lets add one other factor into this.....a lot of people simply don't want to waste four to six hours on the Bahn route.....that they could achieve in 90 minutes via the plane. Some airports in Germany are working on 'quick' check-in and 'quick' security review....meaning you could be dropped off at the curb....have only a carry-on....walk through a security point in 15 minutes, and spend 20 minutes walking to the concourse point.
The reliability factor? This is another point of the discussion....in that the Bahn is slowly dragging customers down, and turning a four-hour trip into seven or eight hours.
Expect to hear more about this before the end of 2019.
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