It used to be 42, but with inflation that is now 67.
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This is typical of the socialist ideal of bringing everyone down rather than encouraging enterprise and ambition. The politics of envy - “tax the rich - and if it can’t be tax abolish it”.
My suggestion is to make all trains first class only. Suck on that young socialists…
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I’m not sure what use First Class is on services which run from, say, 30-40 mins from the city, end-to-end. Second class is rammed and there are maybe 3-4 people max rattling around in First.
First Class makes sense on longer routes, between cities for example, and you can pay accordingly.
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Yes, it’s crazy - everything in life is already in tiers - where you go on holiday, what sort of restaurants you frequent, whether you buy the Prix Guarantee Crisps or the imported Tyrells hand cooked chips and so on.
If we want to encourage people out of their cars and onto Public transport, we need to make it attractive for everyone - especially those with more money to spend and who perhaps want to work on the train.
In the UK, although the train service can be dire, even politicians and the Royal family use it.
(There was a photo in the tabloids this week of Princess Louise Windsor sitting on the floor of a crowded carriage writing an essay).
We actually have two Skodas. We love them to bits!
One of the perks of the Federal Council is a 1st GA. It is not unknown to see them using it either.
This idea, IMHO originates not because they want to bring down class barriers but because, far too often, the CFF are incapable of providing adequate capacity. Or the right capacity, too often airport trains have limited room for baggage.
They should investigate replacing existing seating with “slim-line” seats as the airlines have done. With some out of the box thinking they likely could add at least 12 seats per carriage.
They should just introduce a rule that people can use 1st class for free when the 2nd class is full. This avoids the situation where there are empty seats in 1st class while no seats in 2nd.
Then 1st would be full with empty seats in 2nd. Perhaps frequent travellers could be given a number of upgrades with their subscriptions.
But the attractiveness for paying more is that usually 1st is not full. The seats are only marginally better, particularly on regional routes.
No, because of rule: “for free when the 2nd class is full”
Thinking about planes not trains - eliminating First and Business class would make the economy fare more expensive, as the airlines make most of their money from first and Business. Not sure if this applies trains as well.
I’m pretty sure it’s just the same for the trains.
When we travel with our dogs first class is much easier
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That’s difficult on frequently-stopping trains because people are in and out vacating seats every few minutes.
How often are commuters ‘controlled’ on regional services?
Its not the same according to the petitioners. This is because 1st class carriages are less efficient seating wise compared to second class, and unlike business class flights, the cost isn’t x6 as much.
Although a first-class ticket costs almost twice as much, first class is subsidized by second class, according to the petition . The Young VCS bases its claim on internal SBB documents: per occupied seat, second class generates 1.7 times more revenue than first class. The petition has already received several thousand signatures within a month.
I don’t think that figure is relavent based on an overall load factor of less than 35%. You need to drill down to those services that are almost or entirely full. How does first class revenue per seat compare to 2nd on the Mon-Fri 08h00 Bern-Zurich service?
And the ”internal” CFF figures have to be a guesstimate as they likely cannot predict revenue per seat accurately. IE on said Bern - Zurich service you can have:
Some passengers using their GA,
Some passengers connecting to/from other cities
Some pax on municipal tickets,
Some pax paying full fare with Demi-tariff,
Some pax paying full fare,
Etc
Are people supposed to go to the 2nd class after each stop to look if it’s still full?
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Or swap carriages back to the 2nd class one if enough first class passengers get off?
The only way it would work well is simply, on known busy routes, at busy times, to swap all the first class carriages for second-class ones.
Die erste Klasse muss weiterhin angeboten werden, da sie den Bedürfnissen von Kunden entspricht, die mehr Komfort, Ruhe oder ein angenehmeres Reiseerlebnis wünschen», so die SBB gegenüber Blue News. what bullshit.
If paying customers didn’t want it they wouldn’t pay for it. During rush hours 1st is rarely empty and on popular routes often very full.
Yes.