Ode to my Somester Ticket!
Ah my Somester Ticket we've had some good times, some great times, and some brilliant times. We travelled to school, do Dresden, halfway back from Leipzig, to Glashütte, to Meißen, and to Radebeul. But now, sadly, our relationship must come to end. Mainly because your validity ended on the 31st March. I will still keep you, just because you've been so good to me, even though you are of no further use! You will remain to remind of ridiculously cheap transport that I have only have ever found so cheap in Dresden! An example for other universities and cities to follow! I salute you Somester ticket and thank you!
If anybody is wondering why I am writing an ode to a transport ticket, it is because it was a rather special transport ticket. When I registered at Dresden uni in October, I paid 140 euros, and the majority of this was to pay for this ticket. The ticket itself was my uni ID card, which didn't even have a photo on it, which is why I had to always travel with photo ID when using it. The ticket allowed unlimited transport within the upper-Elbe ticketing region for six months, and not just the Dresden city ticket zone. This was travel on all buses, trams, regional trains and city commuter trains. The only thing you couldn't use it on was the Inter-City, Euro-City, or Inter-City-Express long distance trains. And when I say unlimited travel, I mean unlimited, any time of the day, rush hour or on night-buses. At 140 euros (that's £100 roughly) for six months this was a bargain, and you could argue I didn't make as much of it as I could have! I could get half-way to Leipzig, to the Czech border, and halfway to Berlin, and pretty much everywhere in between. Brillaint!
Now granted this is the good even by German standards, every university has a Somester ticket but not all of them are as extensive as Dresden's. I heard that Leipzig wasn't quite as good for example. But regardless, students are well catered for in transport terms in Germany. With offers such as Mitfahr (car-sharing) and 50% discount for students on the 50% discount card on the train (so that's 103 euros instead of 206 euros, for 50% off all train fares for the year).
Pity we can't have this in Britain, where season tickets in Birmingham for the bus only for 3 months cost nearly as much as the Somester ticket, and the single tickets now costing £1.40.... Train fares, while cheaper to some extent in Britain, (if you know what you're doing), are partly because of generally shorter distances. German ticket prices are standard, peak-time travellers don't get swindled, and there are still very good offers at weekends on regional trains (unlimited travel for 5 people for 30 euros!) On the whole transport front, I am sorry to say that Germans are still ahead of the game. What I'd give for unlimited West Midlands transport at the price of the Somester ticket....
Now what to do about transport for my remaining two months here....
If anybody is wondering why I am writing an ode to a transport ticket, it is because it was a rather special transport ticket. When I registered at Dresden uni in October, I paid 140 euros, and the majority of this was to pay for this ticket. The ticket itself was my uni ID card, which didn't even have a photo on it, which is why I had to always travel with photo ID when using it. The ticket allowed unlimited transport within the upper-Elbe ticketing region for six months, and not just the Dresden city ticket zone. This was travel on all buses, trams, regional trains and city commuter trains. The only thing you couldn't use it on was the Inter-City, Euro-City, or Inter-City-Express long distance trains. And when I say unlimited travel, I mean unlimited, any time of the day, rush hour or on night-buses. At 140 euros (that's £100 roughly) for six months this was a bargain, and you could argue I didn't make as much of it as I could have! I could get half-way to Leipzig, to the Czech border, and halfway to Berlin, and pretty much everywhere in between. Brillaint!
Now granted this is the good even by German standards, every university has a Somester ticket but not all of them are as extensive as Dresden's. I heard that Leipzig wasn't quite as good for example. But regardless, students are well catered for in transport terms in Germany. With offers such as Mitfahr (car-sharing) and 50% discount for students on the 50% discount card on the train (so that's 103 euros instead of 206 euros, for 50% off all train fares for the year).
Pity we can't have this in Britain, where season tickets in Birmingham for the bus only for 3 months cost nearly as much as the Somester ticket, and the single tickets now costing £1.40.... Train fares, while cheaper to some extent in Britain, (if you know what you're doing), are partly because of generally shorter distances. German ticket prices are standard, peak-time travellers don't get swindled, and there are still very good offers at weekends on regional trains (unlimited travel for 5 people for 30 euros!) On the whole transport front, I am sorry to say that Germans are still ahead of the game. What I'd give for unlimited West Midlands transport at the price of the Somester ticket....
Now what to do about transport for my remaining two months here....
posted by Julien at 20:39
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