Have a nice weekend ticket

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A nice weekend ticket for the price of 21 euros (2002)

The Nice Weekend Ticket - abbreviated SWT , colloquially also known as the weekend ticket ( WET ) or at times 15-mark ticket or 30-mark ticket - was a day ticket offered from 1995 to 2019 in the price system of Deutsche Bahn (DB AG).

Sales ceased on June 8, 2019. Tickets that had already been sold could be used until December 29, 2019. The Deutsche Bahn justified the abolition with declining sales and the simplification of the tariff structure. As an alternative, the company refers to the Quer-through-Land-Ticket , which has been offered in parallel since 2009 and is also valid on weekdays , which, however, has been criticized by passenger associations because, unlike the Nice Weekend Ticket, it does not allow the use of other public transport.

Offer conditions

Temporal validity

With the Happy Weekend Ticket Still on a Saturday or Sunday, but not on public holidays if they fall on a weekday, nationwide all regional trains of Deutsche Bahn in any extent be used. It was valid for 27 hours, either from Saturday 0:00 a.m. to Sunday 3:00 a.m. or from Sunday 0:00 a.m. to Monday 3:00 a.m.

inland

The nice weekend ticket was valid in the train types InterRegioExpress (IRE), Regional-Express (RE), Regionalbahn (RB) and S-Bahn (S), whereby the regional trains on the touristy Oberweißbacher Bergbahn , where a special special tariff applies , were excluded. It also did not apply to the Wangerooger Inselbahn and the Norddeich –Norddeich Mole section of the Emsland line, the so-called SEE tariff applies to the latter two lines , as well as to traffic to the Jestetten and Lottstetten stations on the Eglisau – Neuhausen railway line . These places can only be reached by rail via Swiss national territory and are served by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in corridor traffic. Only the SBB tariff applies here. The same applied to the Altenburg- Rheinau station, which was closed in December 2010 .

In addition, the Happy Weekend ticket was also in almost all railroads non-federally owned (NE) recognized, as in most Bahnbus - successor companies .

In numerous tariff and transport associations , the Nice Weekend Ticket was also valid in all other local public transport as well as in city traffic, i.e. in underground trains , light rail vehicles , trams , trolleybuses and omnibuses . In alliances without such a recognition regulation, however, it only applied to the regional trains listed above.

The Nice Weekend Ticket was not valid on long-distance passenger rail trains and was only issued for the second carriage class . A transfer to long-distance trains or the use of first class was not possible, even against payment of a surcharge. For trips within a federal state, sometimes in several contiguous ones, e.g. Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, Berlin and Brandenburg as well as Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, passengers could alternatively purchase the so-called country tickets . They were a little cheaper than the Nice Weekend Ticket and were also valid on all weekdays.

The beautiful weekend ticket cost 44 euros when purchased at ticket machines, on the Internet and in DB service stores, plus six euros each for each additional passenger, in the travel center and in travel agencies with a DB license there was a service fee of two euros for the beautiful Weekend ticket regardless of the number of travelers. The ticket could also be ordered by telephone via the Deutsche Bahn service hotline, with a flat-rate shipping fee of 3.50 euros. The Nice Weekend Ticket was also available at ticket sales points and at stationary and mobile ticket machines of the private railways, which are members of the tariff association of federal and non-federal railways in Germany (TBNE). Within transport associations and tariff associations, the Nice Weekend Ticket was also available from acknowledging transport companies regardless of TBNE membership.

The Nice Weekend Ticket was valid for the selected number of people, i.e. for one to five people. It was a personal, non-transferable ticket and was only valid if the first and last name of all travelers were entered in the column provided on the ticket and it could be shown at the ticket inspection in conjunction with valid, official photo identification such as an identity card or passport. When purchasing the Schöne-Wochen-Ticket as an online ticket or via the DB app, the names of all travelers had to be given when booking.

Cycles

For every bike you took with you, you had to buy a bike day ticket for local transport in addition to the Nice Weekend Ticket , which cost 5.50 euros. This did not apply to certain regions or routes on which bicycles could be taken along free of charge due to special local regulations. The bicycle day pass was only valid on regional trains. When taking with you in other means of transport - in which the Have a Nice Weekend Ticket is valid, but no free bicycle transport is offered - separate bicycle tickets had to be purchased. It should be noted, however, that in the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, bicycles were free of charge on Saturdays and Sundays all day and from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m.

dogs

For the transport of dogs, a credit regulation applied to the number of participants. They could only be taken free of charge within the framework of the NRW tariff, as well as in the Rhein-Main transport association and in the North Hessian transport association .

foreign countries

On certain routes, the Nice Weekend Ticket was also valid beyond the German border as part of special local regulations:

From spring 2000 to the end of 2003, the Nice Weekend Ticket was also valid on around 50 Czech State Railways routes close to the border . It was recognized in the train types Rychlík (R, corresponds to the German express train ), Spěšný vlak (Sp, corresponds to the express train or regional express ) and Osobní vlak (Os, corresponds to the local train or the S and regional trains ) . As a replacement, the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket and the Saxony-Böhmen-Ticket were introduced, which since then can be used in the area of ​​validity of the Nice Weekend Ticket in the Czech Republic.

Development over time

history

The offer was sold from February 1, 1995, the first day of validity was Saturday, February 4, 1995. Every ticket for a nice weekend at the price of fifteen D-Marks entitles the holder to travel anywhere between midnight on Saturday and midnight on Sunday many journeys in the train types express train (E), local train (N), S-Bahn (S), city ​​train (CB), city express train (SE) and regional high-speed train (RSB) - some of which no longer exist today . Children between the ages of four and eleven were considered half persons.

Short-term group tariffs , with which up to 50 people traveled for 120 D-Marks and up to 100 people for 160 D-Marks, ceased to apply on March 18, 1995.

The Have a Nice Weekend Ticket was introduced to improve the often low occupancy in local transport on weekends. Shortly after the rail reform of 1994  , this was one of the first attempts by the then newly founded Deutsche Bahn AG to optimize the utilization of their trains according to market-economy criteria , along with the good evening ticket . However, the attractive conditions of the new special offer soon after its introduction led to sometimes massively overcrowded trains. Long-running trains in particular, including the so-called Heckeneilzüge such as the Kleber Express or the direct connection Frankfurt am Main - Stuttgart via the Odenwaldbahn, were affected.

The offer was sold more than a million times by May 1995; 40 percent of the users were new customers. By strengthening some weekend trains to the level of working days, around 195,000 additional seats were created.

At the beginning of 1997, according to information from Deutsche Bahn, around 90,000 nice weekend tickets were sold each week, at peak times well over 100,000. In 1997, 1.4 million were sold in Bavaria alone; in 2000 there were 6.8 million nationwide.

The purpose of the offer was originally to enable passengers - including families and day trippers in particular - to take short trips on the weekends at favorable conditions. In fact, an unexpected number of passengers also used the new ticket for long-distance travel across Germany. The conditions of the offer have therefore been changed several times over the years. At the same time, attempts were made to curb the excessive demand in the early years through continuous price increases, not least to prevent cannibalization effects compared to the regular kilometer tariff. In addition, surcharges have been introduced for certain distribution channels.

To get the problems under control, it was planned in autumn 1997 to shorten the validity of the ticket to one day. At the same time, plans became known in October 1997 to limit the ticket to families, married couples traveling alone or legal guardians with an unlimited number of their own children from the beginning of 1998. These conditions were originally intended from the start. In addition, the black market with the tickets should be curbed. Furthermore, the usage figures with 120,000 to 130,000 passengers per weekend would have led to problems.

In 2001 the complete abolition of the ticket was discussed for the first time. Corresponding considerations by Deutsche Bahn envisaged extending the validity of the regional tickets originally only valid during the week to Saturday and Sunday from January 1, 2002. Alternatively, due to the overcrowding of many trains, the company planned to raise the price to 28 euros as part of the euro changeover . However, the federal states refused to approve the corresponding tariff change. At the beginning of 2002 the continuation of the offer was announced. In 2001 the ticket had been sold nearly seven million times.

Structural changes

  • With the timetable change on May 28, 1995, the validity was extended to some transport associations for the first time . This also served as the reason for the associated price increase to DM 30  .
  • As of April 1, 1998, the terms of the offer were significantly changed. Instead of five people of any age, the ticket was now only valid for two adults with any number of their own children (up to 17 years of age) or for up to five young people up to and including 17 years traveling alone.
  • After massive protests by customers and passenger associations , the regulation regarding the limited number of people was withdrawn on April 1, 1999. The Have a Nice Weekend Ticket was now valid again for five people of any age. However, parents were still allowed to take any number of their own children or grandchildren with them. In return, Deutsche Bahn reduced the period of validity from 48 to 27 hours. According to a statement by Deutsche Bahn, the most important reason for the restriction was the increasing abuse caused by the resale of tickets at the stations and the high utilization of the trains.
  • Since January 1, 2001, a surcharge has generally been levied on buying tickets on Deutsche Bahn AG trains, the so-called "board price". From now on, this was six D-Marks for the Nice Weekend Ticket, as is generally the case for tickets up to 30 D-Marks. In contrast to regular tickets, this surcharge was not halved for the Nice Weekend Ticket for BahnCard holders.
  • On April 1, 2002, the option for grandparents to bring any number of their own children and grandchildren up to the age of 17 was introduced. In addition, a counter surcharge for the Have a Nice Weekend ticket was introduced, and since then the ticket has cost two euros more for staff-operated sales in travel centers or travel agencies.
  • With the introduction of the price and revenue management passenger transport on December 15, 2002, the on-board surcharge was converted to a percentage calculation method. The surcharge for the Nice Weekend Ticket has since been ten percent of the regular price.
  • Since April 1, 2005, Deutsche Bahn has prevented the transfer of tickets after they have been used, the subsequent expansion of the number of passengers and begging for tickets that are no longer required by “personalizing” the Nice Weekend Ticket - at the same time as the country tickets . From April 1, 2005 to December 12, 2015, passengers traveling the longest were required to write their first and last names in block letters on the ticket with ballpoint pen and to identify themselves with an official photo ID at the ticket inspection, since December 13, 2015 the names of all travelers had to be entered on the ticket. If the undersigned got off before the other passengers, the ticket was then invalid. However, some transport companies did not have a name field on Happy Weekend tickets, and the obligation to possess a ballpoint pen or similar was not clarified.
  • Since April 1, 2010, dogs can also be taken along with the Have a Nice Weekend Ticket. Since the same day, it has also been possible to book an online ticket that you can print out yourself on the computer. Alternatively, it has been possible to order it from the Deutsche Bahn website up to three days before the desired date of validity for a few years and then send it by post.
  • Since June 10, 2012, travel groups have not had to board the train entirely at a train station; individual passengers could also board at other stops on the way.
  • Since December 14, 2014, the purchased ticket was no longer valid for five people. The first passenger paid 40 euros, the ticket price increased by four euros for each additional passenger, so that the ticket price increased to 56 euros for another four passengers. Likewise, before buying the ticket, it had to be determined for how many passengers the ticket was valid, similar to the cross-through-country ticket. The ticket has also been available as a mobile phone ticket since December 14, 2014 .

Price development

date price adjusted for inflation Board price Counter price Validity period
February 1, 1995 15.00  DM € 10.76 two days
May 28, 1995 30.00 DM € 21.51
January 1, 1996 35.00 DM € 24.75
April 1, 1999 35.00 DM € 23.88 a day
November 5, 2000 40.00 DM € 26.92
January 1, 2001 40.00 DM € 51.61 46.00 DM
January 1, 2002 21.00 € 26.72 € 24.00
April 1, 2002 € 28.00 € 35.63 € 31.00 € 30.00
December 15, 2002 € 28.00 € 35.63 30.80 € € 30.00
December 12, 2004 € 30.00 € 37.16 € 33.00 € 32.00
January 1, 2007 € 33.00 € 38.75 € 36.30 € 35.00
December 9, 2007 € 35.00 € 41.10 € 38.50 € 37.00
December 14, 2008 € 37.00 € 42.35 € 40.70 € 39.00
December 12, 2010 € 39.00 € 44.02 € 42.90 € 41.00
December 11, 2011 € 40.00 € 44.22 € 44.00 € 42.00
December 8, 2012 € 42.00 € 45.52 € 46.20 € 44.00
December 15, 2013 € 44.00 € 47.03 € 48.40 € 46.00
December 14, 2014 € 40.00 - € 56.00 € 42.33 - € 59.26 € 44.00 - € 61.60 € 42.00 - € 58.00
December 13, 2015 € 40.00 - € 56.00 € 40.48 - € 56.67 € 44.00 - € 61.60 € 42.00 - € 58.00
December 11, 2016 € 40.00 - € 56.00 € 40.48 - € 56.67 € 44.00 - € 61.60 € 42.00 - € 58.00
from December 10, 2017 € 44.00 - € 68.00 € 48.40 - € 74.80 € 46.00 - € 70.00

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Hansa fans say goodbye to the Happy Weekend Ticket. Retrieved June 8, 2019 .
  2. Bahn stops 15-mark ticket. In: Berliner Zeitung . May 11, 1995.
  3. As in Sarajevo . In: Der Spiegel . No. 35 , 1995, pp. 80 ( online ).
  4. a b Off for a nice weekend ticket . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 2 , 2019, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 62 .
  5. DB Regio AG, Appendix to No. 601 of the Passenger Transport Tariff List, overview of areas of validity for special offers from DB Regio AG, valid from December 9th, 2018, updated edition June 2019, page 12, access: June 15, 2019
  6. Bye, have a nice weekend! , on sueddeutsche.de, accessed on April 27, 2019
  7. Scope of the special offer Happy Weekend Ticket ( Memento from September 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
  8. News in brief . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , Issue 8–9 / 2000, p. 340.
  9. Seat reservations are no longer free . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 23, 1995, p. 1.
  10. No light in the tariff tunnel of Deutsche Bahn . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 30, 1995, p. 22.
  11. Deutsche Bahn overwhelmed by the onslaught - saver ticket for large groups is withdrawn . In: Berliner Zeitung , March 14, 1995
  12. Dialog . In: ZUG , No. 5, 1995, p. 3.
  13. Klaus Ott : For 35 marks across Bavaria . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 48, 1997, p. 55.
  14. Family fun all along the line . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 71, 1998, p. 56.
  15. a b Dispute over weekend ticket . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 291, 2001, p. 12.
  16. Tomorrow's customers should be amazed at building blocks . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 204, 1997, p. 8.
  17. a b weekend ticket . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 242, 1997, p. 2.
  18. Free travel for the Bayernticket . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 245, 1997, p. 56.
  19. Deutsche Bahn restricts weekend tickets . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 242, 1997, p. 1.
  20. Once again: The future of the weekend ticket is controversial . In: Eisenbahn-Kurier , No. 345, June 2001, p. 6.
  21. a b Have a nice weekend ticket secured . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 3/2002, p. 116.
  22. The railway abolishes the express train . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 118, 1995, p. 12.
  23. Value added tax is rising - rail journeys are becoming more expensive . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 75, 1998, p. 6.
  24. derFahrgast , 2/2002. (PDF; 324 kB)
  25. Weekend ticket more expensive since April 1st . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 76, 2002, p. 10.
  26. Bayern-Ticket Single now also available for first class and as an online ticket . DB Mobility Logistics AG, press release of March 31, 2010
  27. New features for country tickets and cross-country tickets New: members of travel groups can board at various train stations • With cross-country, happy weekend and country tickets now also points for the bahn.bonus program collect . DB, press release, June 5, 2012.
  28. Surcharge for the weekend ticket and payment by credit card . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , September 29, 2014; accessed on December 29, 2014
  29. ^ DB News . In: mobile . January 2015, ISSN  0949-586X , p. 60-61 .
  30. Inexpensive travel on local transport with the Have a Nice Weekend Ticket. In: bahn.de . Deutsche Bahn , accessed on July 8, 2016 : “Price: 40 euros for 1 traveler; From 4, - Euro surcharge per person for up to 4 fellow travelers "
  31. Dec. 2017 / Jan. 2018. Timetable 2018 , on s-bahn-mitteldeutschland.de (PDF), p. 5.