Buses and trains Bonn students are upset about additional costs for bikes

Bonn · From this winter semester, fares have been charged for taking bikes on buses and trains during peak times. While many students are upset, other passengers agree with the new rules.

The days are getting shorter and colder and the buses and trains fuller. At these temperatures, some prefer to swap to public transport for longer journeys and take their bike with them in the bus or train. Since this semester, however, students can no longer take their bikes with them for free during the day. The change to the service is causing discontent among many, while others are looking for alternative means of transport.

“As expected, the reaction from students was mostly negative,” says Alena Schmitz, press spokeswoman for the student union, the Allgemeine Studierendenausschuss Bonn (Asta). Students who live in “outlying areas with poor connections” or who have to commute between different institutions have been particularly hit by the restriction. Trainee teachers also depend on taking their bikes with them when they have to complete their training semester in village areas.

Restriction since 1 October

The Rhine-Sieg transport association (VRS) has restricted transport of bikes by students since 1 October: free transport is only allowed at weekends and on public holidays. During the week, bikes can only be taken on board after 7pm – outside normal lecture hours. Those who cannot do without their bike have to pay. School children have also had to comply with this rule since August.

“Of course there were one or two complaints,” says Holger Klein, press spokesman for the VRS. On the other hand, other passengers expressed their gratitude for the new rule. VRS says the reason for the restriction is the increasing passenger volume while capacities and frequencies remain the same and cannot be increased.

Wheelchair users and families have priority

The transport of bikes will generally be made dependent on the number of other passengers. “Bikes will generally only be transported, when the available capacities and space allow for this,” says the Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB) website. Wheelchair users and families with pushchairs have priority. To take their bikes with them during the day, students have to buy a ticket in the 1b price bracket for Euro 2.80 (Euro 2.90 from 1 January 2018). A monthly surcharge for bike transport costs Euro 35.30 – this covers round the clock bike transport. Some students have swapped to alternative means of transport.

Christoph, a law student from Bonn, has got a folding bike. According to the SWB, these are treated as a piece of luggage when folded and do not fall under the new rule. As his girlfriend lives in Cologne, he commutes several times a week between Cologne and Bonn and takes his bike with him. When he heard about the upcoming change, he calculated the additional costs and decided on a folding bike. “It is more acceptable to fellow passengers,” he says.

Asta is continuing to press for bike transport to be free throughout the entire day. “Such a reversal of the new tariff rules will probably only be possible with a strong lobby group in the background,” says Schmitz. For this to happen, infrastructure and increased capacities would have to be created first, explains Klein: “This is inconceivable under the current conditions.”

Original text: Sabrina Bauer. Translated by Kate Carey.

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