Rail ramps
Rail ramps generally mean that people can ride on another (stranger) person's ticket free of charge and legally in local public transport .
Legal background
Within the various tariff regulations of the regional transport associations, there are often so-called carry-along regulations that entitle the holders of certain tickets to take other people with them free of charge at set times. As a rule, tariff provisions for season tickets such as the “ Subscription Ticket ”, the “ Job Ticket ” or the “ Semester Ticket ” include provisions for taking with you in the evenings, weekends and public holidays. This is not limited to the spouse, friend or one's own children (regardless of whether they are biological or legal). By means of an oral agreement, ticket holders and passengers form a civil law company (GbR) within the meaning of Section 705 BGB (see also lift-sharing ). For a legally correct procedure that releases the passenger from the obligation to purchase tickets, the formation of such a car pool must not begin immediately before or during a ticket inspection.
term
The term itself is a further development of " hitchhiking ", which is transferred to local public transport by adding "train". A very early reference to the word creation “rail ramps” can be found in an article in the Munich magazine “Vierte Hilfe” from the winter of 1997. Here, the search for ride-sharing opportunities as part of the Deutsche Bahn (DB) weekend ticket was presented as part of a free life. The train journey on someone else's ticket was even described as an unwanted reintroduction of the third or fourth class of car (formerly called “wood class”). However, this related more to the unsafe search process for a person willing to take along with the same destination and not to the conditions during the journey.
However, since April 1, 2005 and December 14, 2014, there have been tariff changes for the Schöne-Wochen-Ticket , which prevent you from taking it with you. This ticket was discontinued in 2019.
Further development of the "rail ramps" campaign
In mid-2008, rail ramps became the umbrella term for an initiative by Cologne students. The logo and identification mark was the orange button with the “hitchhiker's thumb”. The basic idea of the rail ramp campaign was that the holders of a corresponding ticket would identify themselves as ready-to-take passengers with a button and would be addressed by those willing to ride. By distributing the buttons to students (holders of SemesterTickets) thousands of times, the aim was to ensure that as many car pools as possible in buses and trains are formed during the period of validity of the transport policy. The target group of these free trips were primarily low- wage earners, Hartz IV recipients, refugees and “ sans papiere ”, who were to be given mobility and participation in social life. Practical help in everyday life should be created for this group of people.
Despite initial success and a thoroughly positive press response, the campaign is no longer actively operated. Last but not least, there was no political support from the local General Student Committee (AStA) for a sustainable student campaign .
"Vengeance campaign", record hunt, "take-away campaign (s) art"
Another possibility is to address a passenger who is obviously willing to pay at the ticket machine, ask for the destination and offer the free journey. In contrast to the rail ramp campaign, the ticket holder becomes active here and “looks for” passengers. There is evidence that such a procedure was already practiced in 1991. This was originally a take-away campaign designed as a campaign of revenge against the Cologne transport company (KVB). Under the title "Take passengers with you", this campaign was even awarded entries in the Guinness Book of Records . In the period from April 1, 1991 to March 31, 2000, the Cologne record holder registered a total of 5,000 people, 23 dogs and 4 bicycles as free vehicles. Since April 1, 2000, a numerical recording of the takings and further record reports have been dispensed with. This politically independent action continues to be successfully pursued, but no longer with thoughts of revenge. Instead, experiences and events in connection with successful - or even failed - free takeaways should be interpreted as "take away action (s) art".
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Article in the Munich magazine "Vierte Hilfe" from the winter of 1997 (after calling up, enter the search term "Bahnrampen")
- ↑ Contribution of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from August 21st, 2009 about the campaign “Railway ramps” ( memento of the original of November 2nd, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ DER WESTEN from September 8, 2009 on the "Railway ramps" campaign
- ↑ DIE WELT of April 12, 1997 on "Take-Away Action Days"
- ↑ DIE ZEIT / 1996 about free taking out of revenge
- ↑ DIE WELT of January 10, 1997 on the "campaign of revenge"
