@jon what drives me insane is that "paying for itself" is only applied to stuff that benefits the population at large, like education, healthcare and public transport.
Do the goverment employees salaries pay for themselves?
Does a standing army pay for itself?
Do roads pay for themselves?
@ber I am tired of people who cannot see others' point of view about the #Deutschlandticket, and those people - in the main! - seem to be middle aged men. But sure, there are other people with similar views too.
@jon what I am not getting is why you bash middle aged men for it. Even if they are the largest group of people showing the behaviour do not like, there will be others middle ages men you will you in your camp, why alienate them?
@ber Numbers of people I care about alienating: none. I have my view, and if you don't like it, happily block and move on. Just be conscious - as many middle aged men seem incapable of doing - you might actually do well to put yourself in someone else's shoes once in a while.
@jon it is not my fault being a middle aged man. (And I am not attacking the Deutschlandticket.) But your post reads like being a middle aged man is a bad thing. That is an aspect I do not understand. You may feel this way as it is an experience you seem to have made.
@jon I totally agree (being a middle aged man on a business trip with a privately payed #Deutschlandticket because the company doesn't know how to calculate those).
@jon I need to take a train twice a day a few days a month, which would cost about 15€ a day, I think 50€ does quite pay for itself, especially with the possibility to just go wherever the hell I want
@coolesding Oh for you it makes sense. For me too. For millions of others as well. But the income for local public transport operators is down, and the state is going to have to help - and I am FINE with that.
One only has to bring in the costs of not taking the train: all the state subsidies to roads, to traffic police, to health care not just for accidents but also from the lack of exercise and the crankiness of not interacting with fellow human beings and being stressed in a car, plus the cost of lost leisure and labour from having committed the time to driving instead. And the environmental damage of driving and cars.
I don't take it for granted, that the income went down, just because some middle-aged men say so.
I guess, there are a lot of people out there using the ticket not that extensive, maybe not even using the train for several month. However they pay each month, no matter if they used the train. So that should be counted in.
@Sprbr_1 I can imagine that both are true: that ridership went up, AND income went down. And if that is true I have no problem with it. Because I am happy for the state to step in!
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