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DB announces new "super savings fare"

According to my local newspaper DB will introduce from August onwards a so-called "super savings fare" for long distance transport at a unified price of €19.90 (which presently is available for distances under 200km only). Furthermore, all tickets for long distance trains over 100 kilometers will generally include free local transport to and from the station. The fine print is not out yet. I'm afraid it will hide, as always with offers form the DB, a couple of those little ugly traps.

Posted by
19276 posts

SLA. Is that a fixed price of 19,90€ or the starting price, from which the price goes up as cheaper tickets sell out?

all tickets for long distance trains over 100 kilometers will
generally include free local transport to and from the station.

Does that include non-Bahn transport, like U-Bahn, trams, and buses, or just S-Bahn?

Posted by
268 posts

all tickets for long distance trains over 100 kilometers will
generally include free local transport to and from the station

I read somewhere that the super saver fare would be the exception, i.e. they would not include the local transport.

Does that include non-Bahn transport, like U-Bahn, trams, and buses, or just S-Bahn?

The concept already exists for Bahncard owners. It includes all modes of local public transport (in a lot of cities, but not everywhere in Germany. In Berlin, only fare zone A is included).

Posted by
2481 posts

Does that include non-Bahn transport, like U-Bahn, trams, and buses, or just S-Bahn?

@Lee

That will be the case, according to what is in the newspapers today. DB has negotiated with the Association of German Transport Companies for over a year to achieve this (S-Bahn was already included in actual Sparpreis tickets). But first I want to see the fine print, because press releases related to the Bahn are often distorted. There are very few journalists nowadays who are really interested in the railway system.

Posted by
19276 posts

The concept already exists for Bahncard owners.

Hardly important to those of us in the US. A Bahncard is rarely justified.

Posted by
268 posts

Hardly important to those of us in the US. A Bahncard is rarely justified.

My point is that Deutsche Bahn is likely to just use the exact same terms for non-Bahncard owners in the future that they are now using for Bahncard owners. They would otherwise probably have to re-negotiate the terms with the local traffic associations.

Posted by
2481 posts

They would otherwise probably have to re-negotiate the terms with the local traffic associations.

But thats exactly what they did (cf. my posting above). Reportedly, they have negiotiated the thing for over one year, not with the local associations but with the Federal association of transport companies. I'm curious how this will all be paid for. Certainly not by the DB alone, but rather by the transport associations of the single federal states.

Posted by
268 posts

They would otherwise probably have to re-negotiate the terms with the local traffic associations.

But thats exactly what they did (cf. my posting above).

I stand corrected. Sorry, should have read your posting more precisely.

Posted by
19276 posts

I'm looking at the schedule for FRA to Munich Hbf for 10:00 AM on Dec 8 (currently the latest travel day for Sparpreis tickets on the Bahn and well beyond the August date for the start of new Sparpreis fares), and I see one fare of 19,90€/P, but two other fares of 53,90€/P and 73,90/P, so it seems apparent that the "new" 19,90€/P fare is not a unified fare (i.e., always the fare, never increases), but only the starting fare from which the fares increase when the lower tiers sell out.

On the other hand, if the new Sparpreis fare really is only 19,90€/P but will apply only to tickets sold from August forward, aren't those people who already bought Sparpreis tickets at 53,90€/P going to me mad?

And, by the way, the Sparpreis fare only applies to tickets to S-Bahn stations. If I put in to Odeonsplatz, it says it is a partial fare. And, oddly, if I ask for FRA to Marienplatz S-Bahn station, the lowest Sparpreis fare shows 29,90€/P, up 10€ from the fare to the Hbf, but the higher fares don't go up. ???

Note: this Bahn page says "ab 19,90€/P".

Posted by
2481 posts

so it seems apparent that the "new" 19,90€/P fare is not a unified fare (i.e., always the fare, never increases), but only the starting fare from which the fares increase when the lower tiers sell out.

Yes that's true, there is no change of the price policy in that respect. New is, however, that there will be tickets for € 19.90 for distances over 200km. For example, from Munich to Hamburg (800 km).

Posted by
19276 posts

There is now some clarification of the Saver (Sparpreis) Fares and the new SuperSaver (SuperSparpreis) Fares.

The Saver Fare tickets, which have been around for some time, will now start at 23,90€ and go up as lower priced tickets sell out. With a Saver Fare trip of over 100 km, you can get, for free, a City Ticket, which provides local transport (not just S-Bahn) in certain cities for the start and end of the trip. The fee to cancel a Saver Fare ticket before the day of travel is 10€. Note, by "cancel" they mean you can get a voucher for later tickets, but no cash.

The new SuperSaver tickets will start at 19,90€ and go up as lower priced tickets sell out. City Tickets will not be available with SuperSaver tickets, but you can purchase a similar CityMobil Ticket for extra cost. SuperSaver tickets can not be cancelled.

It looks like rather than having separate tiers of Saver and SuperSaver fares, with Saver and SuperSaver fares going up independently as each one sells out at the lower level, the fares are linked, with each offering at either the Saver or SuperSaver price. For instance, whenever the Saver Fare is 23,90€, the SuperSaver Fare is always 19,90€, never higher. The difference between the fares starts at 4€ and gradually rises to 10€ when the fares are around 59,90€ and 69,90€ respectively.

Even without taking into account the City Ticket, I don't think the lesser cost of the SuperSaver Fare is worth the loss of the cancellation option.

BTW, nowhere have I seen if there is a time limit for using the cancellation vouchers.