Public transport Travel throughout Germany with a VRS season ticket
Bonn · Public transportation services and networks are launching a special promotion for holders of their season tickets. From September 13 to 26, they can use local and regional bus and rail services throughout Germany - at no extra cost.
Regular customers of municipal transport services can use their “Dauertickets” (long-term or seasonal passes) to travel on all local and regional transport throughout Germany free of charge during European Mobility Week from September 13 to 26. The offer is valid for those who have “Dauertickets” with Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB), Regionalverkehr Bonn (RVK) or Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft (RSVG).
On Monday, the Rhein-Sieg Transport Association announced that those who have monthly tickets, Formel9 tickets, Aktiv-60 tickets, mobile passes, starter tickets, trainee tickets, student tickets, semester tickets, dual tickets, job tickets and bulk tickets can use the so-called "Deutschland Abo-Upgrade". So a season ticket holder could travel to Rügen, a German island in the Baltic Sea to see the white chalk cliffs up during these two weeks at no extra charge, provided the customer stick to local and regional trains.
It is a continuation of the nationwide campaign "#BesserWeiter", run in cooperation with the federal government, the federal states and leading municipal associations under the leadership of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV). There had already been special promotions during the pandemic: During the summer holidays, SWB subscribers could take several people on their season tickets and travel throughout North Rhine-Westphalia.
The campaign serves to "further strengthen the confidence of customers in public transport", explains the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS) in a press release. At the same time, it is a thank you to a large number of customers who held on to their contracts during the pandemic, even though local transport services were temporarily only available to a limited extent. "For us as an industry, the focus in the coming months is on winning back those passengers. Of course, we continue to keep a close eye on pandemic developments. However, we now know from numerous national and international scientific studies that there is no increased risk of infection in public transport," said VDV President Ingo Wortmann.
With things gradually opening up after the lockdown, the number of passengers has also been increasing again since the summer. In many major cities, the number of passengers has risen by 70 to 75 percent compared to pre-Covid times.
During the summer holidays, it was only necessary for regular customers to show their season ticket in order to benefit from the additional offer. For the Germany-wide trips in the two weeks of September, however, online registration is required beforehand. Name, e-mail address, transport association and season ticket number must be provided. Participation in a survey for market research purposes is voluntary.
Online registration can be completed here: www.besserweiter.de/abo-upgrade.
(Orig. text: Philipp Königs / Translation: Carol Kloeppel)
