Status: 29.11.2023, 17:43 PM
By: Johannes Welte
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From 10 December, cyclists will be able to take their bikes with them on Bavaria's local trains for one euro a day. This is the implementation of an election promise made by Markus Söder. However, the ticket is not valid on many trains and at many times, the rules are very complicated.
Munich – Travelling across Bavaria for one euro a day sounds good, especially before a state election. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) announced the cheap bike ticket at the end of March, seven months before the state parliament vote. The governing parties CSU and FW decided on the innovation in the state parliament in July, just in time for the hot election campaign.
Bike ticket starts in the middle of winter
On popular routes such as the BRB to Tegernsee (here in Gmund), the one-euro ticket is not valid at all. © THOMAS PLETTENBERG
Yesterday the time had come, the Bayerische Regiobahn announced: The one-euro ticket will come on December 10 - i.e. in the middle of winter, when there is little cycling anyway. "The start in winter will enable the railway companies and us to approach the introduction as a test phase," explains Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU). He has already announced that they want to "further develop" the ticket in the coming months. By the way, the new bicycle ticket is called BasTi, an abbreviation for "Bavarian SPNV-Ticket Rad".
The new bike ticket is causing a lot of confusion. © imago stock
Not only is the date inconvenient, but there are also a lot of restrictions – such as time: For example, the ticket is only valid from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m., i.e. not during the morning rush hour. From 15 March to 3 October, it will also only apply on Fridays between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. – because the trains are particularly crowded in the afternoons, it says.
The ticket is not valid on a summer weekend
On weekends, the new one-euro ticket is only available during the winter months, i.e. between 4 October and 14 March. In summer and on weekends, when most people want to cycle, you have to buy the expensive day tickets again as before. For example, the bicycle day ticket Bavaria costs 6 euros, the bicycle day ticket in the MVV 3.30 euros. The new bike ticket will be available at ticket machines as well as on the websites and apps of the railway companies.
In addition, the ticket is not valid at all on many routes, including popular routes such as from Munich via Rosenheim to Salzburg and Kufstein as well as to Bayrischzell, Tegernsee and Lenggries. Also not valid is the ticket on the regional express between Munich and Nuremberg, with which cyclists like to head for the Altmühltal. Between Memmingen and Hergatz near Lindau (Lake Constance) it is also not valid, in the Alex from Munich to Hof or Furth im Wald it is also said: Nothing!
And you can't use your ticket to take your bike with you within the transport associations such as the Munich MVV or the Nuremberg VGN, which cover most of Bavaria. However, according to the BEG, it is permitted to use the one-euro ticket to transport the bike from one association to another or to a region outside the associations. As a cyclist, you only have to credibly assure the conductor that you plan to leave the association with the Radlticket - the BEG relies on honesty and hopes that by next summer it will be possible to travel with the one-euro ticket in all transport associations.
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The ticket is not valid on many routes and within the transport associations
The General German Bicycle Club (ADFC) says it is happy that a first step is being taken to make it cheaper to take bicycles, at least temporarily and partially, but the rules are too complicated. Bernadette Felsch, chairwoman of the ADFC Bayern, explains: "Buying the right bike ticket has been a science in itself. Unfortunately, the one-euro ticket as an additional offer will not make this any easier."
The goal of simplifying bicycle transport and making it more reliable has not yet been achieved. The capacities for bicycles on the trains would have to be significantly expanded – and the restrictions on the ticket that were initially necessary would have to be "lifted step by step as soon as possible". And in addition, in many places the platforms would have to be extended so that longer trains with more capacity for bicycles can stop.
Outside of Bavaria, bicycles are often free of charge
Incidentally, in other federal states such as Baden-Württemberg or Thuringia, as well as in many transport associations, bicycles are free of charge – with a few exceptions.
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