“It is a rule one simply needs to be aware of and which only upsets a small proportion of customers,” says Holger Klein, press spokesman for the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS) (Rhine-Sieg Transport Association) when questioned by the General Anzeiger. Customers buy around ten million short distance tickets a year, and six per cent of those involve line changes. “The disadvantage for these customers is undisputed,” adds Klein.

Transport companies operating in rural areas had demanded short distance tickets be scrapped. In rural areas, passengers can travel much greater distances on a short distance ticket than in town. The short distance journey in town means only one or several kilometres. In rural areas it can quickly reach 15 kilometres.

The 28 transport companies belonging to the VRS agreed after discussions on the ban on changing lines. The new rule is irritating GA readers. One woman said: “Unfortunately yet another new rule that does not make using local public transport easier, but rather does the opposite.” “This is not about us, but about more money,” was the complaint of one Facebook user.

Klein denies the decision was made on financial grounds, saying the additional revenue was minimal. Instead it was about a more integrated system and to make it easier to control tickets. At the moment, ticket inspectors cannot always determine how far a passenger has actually already travelled with a short distance ticket.

The Bonner Stadtwerk said Bonn ticket inspectors would at first be “sensitive to the change” when passengers could “prove their lack of knowledge.” Passengers would only have to pay the fine of 60 euros when they still did not adhere to the new rule despite it being explained to them. (Original text: Maria Gambino. Translated by Kate Carey.)