Countries which sell full network wide rover annual season tickets.

[swt class 450]

I have just been looking at train ticket prices in other countries (just as i was curious to compare them to the UK) and realised that most other countries actually sell annual network wide rover tickets giving unlimited travel on all trains in that entire country for an entire year.

What is more surprising is how cheap they are compared to the UK! Most of these tickets (which give unlimited train travel in the entire country) are much much much cheaper than just an annual point to point season ticket between two stations in the UK!

These are the current prices of them:

AUSTRIA:
• 1889.00EUR - std class
• 2839.00EUR - 1st class

BELGIUM:
• 3097.00EUR - std class
• 4770.00EUR - 1st class

CZECH REPUBLIC:
• 19990.00CZK - std class
• 24980.00CZK - 1st class

GERMANY:
• 4395.00EUR - std class - all transport
• 7435.00EUR - 1st class - all transport

HUNGARY:
• 250000.00HUF - std class
• 280000.00HUF - 1st class

IRELAND:
• 5120.00EUR - std class - train only
• 5540.00EUR - std class - train plus Bus Eireann
• 5540.00EUR - std class - train plus Dublin Bus
• 5540.00EUR - std class - train plus Luas Tram
• 6530.00EUR - std class - train plus BE/DB/LT

LIECHTENSTEIN:
• 340.00EUR - std class - train/bus - liechtenstein only
• 370.00EUR - std class - train/bus - plus cross border

LUXEMBOURG:
• 440.00EUR - std class - train/tram/bus
• 660.00EUR - 1st class - train/tram/bus

NETHERLANDS:
• 408.00EUR - std class - weekend - trains only
• 1260.00EUR - std class - off peak - trains only
• 4152.00EUR - std class - anytime - trains only
• 4818.00EUR - std class - anytime - all transport
• 480.00EUR - 1st class - weekend - trains only
• 1596.00EUR - 1st class - off peak - trains only
• 6996.00EUR - 1st class - anytime - trains only
• 7662.00EUR - 1st class - anytime - all transport

SLOVAKIA:
• 850.00EUR - std class - non transferable
• 960.00EUR - std class - transferable
• 960.00EUR - 1st class - non transferable
• 1070.00EUR - 1st class - transferable

SLOVENIA:
• 2471.00EUR - std class - non transferable
• 3089.00EUR - std class - transferable
• 3709.00EUR - 1st class - non transferable
• 4636.00EUR - 1st class - transferable

SWEDEN:
• 43300.00SEK - std class - no meals - train only
• 59300.00SEK - std class - no meals - all transport
• 67300.00SEK - 1st class - no meals - train only
• 83300.00SEK - 1st class - no meals - all transport
• 73100.00SEK - 1st class - free meals - train only
• 89100.00SEK - 1st class - free meals - all transport

SWITZERLAND:
• 3860.00CHF - std class
• 6300.00CHF - 1st class

Are there any countries i have missed out? Do any other countries in Mainland Europe (or elsewhere around the world) sell such tickets?

It's really a shame that we don't have a network wide annual rover season ticket for all trains in the UK. It would be very useful but i imagine if we did then it would be a lot more expensive then the ones sold in Mainland European are.

It just goes to show how much cheaper and better value tickets in other countries are! Just the fact that you can get a full network wide annual rover season ticket (giving unlimited travel on all trains in that country) for much cheaper than a point to point season ticket for a short distance here in the UK!

 

[SHD]

The German BahnCard 100 is indeed a very good deal.

France has such rovers but they are way less popular than their equivalents in Germany, probably because they are much more expensive.

Abonnement Forfait France - All lines rover, unfortunately journeys on Transilien/RER trains wholly within the Ile-de-France region are not included, and unlike Germany local public transportation is not included either.

€10,680 in 2nd class
€16,080 in 1st class

No official figures but probably less than ten 1st class annual “forfaits” are sold every year. The target public is very narrow (a handful of corporate executives maybe). MPs receive such a rover as part of their official package. And obviously all direct SNCF employees benefit from equivalent privileges (2nd or 1st class according to their professional status).

The “Abonnements Fréquence”, équivalent to a 50% Railcard (yield management does not apply to Fréquence tickets), are much more popular:

€737 in 2nd class
€999 in 1st class

(By the way, why did you feel the need to add .00 to all the prices in your list?)

 

[swt class 450]

Thanks for the info. I didn't realise that France had one as well.

It seems crazy that it is not valid on RER or Transilien trains within the Ile De France region especially considering that they are normal mainline trains! For the price they charge (which us higher than they other ones i mentioned) i would expect to be able to use them on these trains! It looks like a annual all zones ticket for all of Ile De France (including - RER / Transilien / TER / Metro / Tram / Bus - within the region) is 827.20EUR in standard class (it doesn't look like a first class version is available)! So that is a significant amount of extra money to spend if you want to travel in the area!

Interesting the MPs get them. I suppose at least it encourages them to use public transport and mix with the ordinary public. I wonder how many MPs actually use them? Also is it the standard class version or the first class version that they get?

I don't know why i put a .00 at the end! I seem to have a habit of always writing prices with a .00 at the end!

Does anyone know if a full network wide annual season rover ticket available in, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, or any of the many other Eastern European countries? I presume there are probably some others?

 

[AlexNL]

Denmark

Denmark used to have a ticket which would give unlimited use of all trains and buses throughout the country, but sales have been suspended as of January 20th 2019.

 

[SHD]

Well the thing is that Transilien and RER trains are _not_ normal Mainline trains and have been regulated by a specific authority (STP then STIF then Ile de France Mobilites) for quite some time. (Although certain “mainline” TER services call at Île de France stations - and in most cases Île-de-France tickets are valid on them.)

Yes a yearly season ticket for Paris + Île-de-France is 827€ (Actually 11 direct debits of 75.2€). Which is very good value when you consider the area it covers. Compare with other European cities... and in addition all public and private sector employees are eligible to a 50% reimbursement from their employer.


As to your question on what kind of rovers MP get... do you really not have an idea?

 

[Arriva Fan]

ISLE OF MAN:
• £60.00 - South Line Only
• £60.00 - North Line Only (Coast and Mountain Roads)
• £75.00 - All Isle Of Man Railways

 

[swt class 450]

I thought they might get the first class version! They are MPs after all! Not a surprise really! I can't imagine Emmanuel Macron and his MPs wanting to mix with the common peasants!

Interesting to hear that Denmark has withdrawn theirs. I suppose it must not have been that popular. Was it good value? Any idea how much it cost before it was withdrawn?

Those annual tickets for the Isle Of Man are amazing value for just £75.00 to travel on all of their railways for a year! They are cheaper than most weekly train tickets in the UK and are even cheaper than many of our longer distance Single and Return tickets!

Although if you want a ticket for the buses in the Isle Of Man then it costs an extortionate £800.00 a year just for the buses or £880.00 a year for the buses and trains! It's amazing how much cheaper the trains are on the island!

 

[OwlMan]

ATOC do sell an all-time annual ticket for GB, it is only available by application to them.

 

[swt class 450]

Interesting. I never knew that. How much do ATOC currently charge for it? Is it available in both standard class and first class versions? I wonder why there is no publicity about this. They must hardly sell any.

 

[AlexNL]

I wonder why there is no publicity about this.

That's probably related to the price. Look at how much an all line rover costs, or how expensive season tickets are. I'm guessing a year-round ALR would cost somewhere between £15k - £20k in standard class and would still come with the same restrictions as the ALRs existing today. An ALR without any restrictions would probably be upwards of £20k in standard class.

How many people would buy that? Probably none. But it would give the press and Labour some more ammo for their 'UK trains are so expensive' stories which they run every new year.

 

[swt class 450]

Yes i imagine the price is probably extortionate. I can't imagine them charging Mainland Europe style prices for it. I think i might email ATOC (or Rail Delivery Group as i think it is now) and enquire about the prices. I would certainly be interested to know.

 

[bspahh]

That's probably related to the price. Look at how much an all line rover costs, or how expensive season tickets are. I'm guessing a year-round ALR would cost somewhere between £15k - £20k in standard class and would still come with the same restrictions as the ALRs existing today. An ALR without any restrictions would probably be upwards of £20k in standard class.

In this thread from last year https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/my-idea-for-a-new-railcard-tier-system.175362/#post-3791097

I scaled the price of an All Line Rover based on the price of a weekly and annual rover ticket for Greater Anglia trains. It came to £20400, based on the 2018 prices

 

[SHD]

I thought they might get the first class version! They are MPs after all! Not a surprise really! I can't imagine Emmanuel Macron and his MPs wanting to mix with the common peasants!

Macron does not travel by train unless it is for a publicity stunt (the security involved is a nightmare). There used to be a Presidential train (actually a coach) but it fell into oblivion after 1970 or so.

It is funny to think that the number of French people who benefit from a railway-wide first class season ticket (577 députés (representatives), 348 senators, ~42,000 SNCF lower managers and managers and ~1,500 SNCF executives) is several orders of magnitude higher than the number of people who actually pay (no small sum) for it!

 

[paddington]

I scaled the price of an All Line Rover based on the price of a weekly and annual rover ticket for Greater Anglia trains. It came to £20400, based on the 2018 prices

I think that even if I lived in York and worked in London or something like that, and I wanted to spend my spare time travelling around the rail network it would cost me less than £20K.

 

[30907]

What is immediately apparent is the wide variation in prices for countries of similar size - compare eg Slovakia and Slovenia, or Ireland and Germany.

Advocates of an ATOC version tend to opt for Germany as a comparator for obvious reasons.

 

[WatcherZero]

That's probably related to the price. Look at how much an all line rover costs, or how expensive season tickets are. I'm guessing a year-round ALR would cost somewhere between £15k - £20k in standard class and would still come with the same restrictions as the ALRs existing today. An ALR without any restrictions would probably be upwards of £20k in standard class.

How many people would buy that? Probably none. But it would give the press and Labour some more ammo for their 'UK trains are so expensive' stories which they run every new year.

There is a tourist version that cannot be bought by UK citizens and covers 3/4/8/15/22/30 days, the BritRail England Rail Pass
The Month version standard costs US $626 for an adult, $314 for child, free for under 5, $532 for over 60 and $396 for 16-25.
First class is $932, $468, $0, $792, $588.

You can also buy a 2 month flexible version where you have the same number of days but can choose which dates its active on, same price as the one month version.

 

[D6700]

Germany:
€4,395 (£3,837) - standard class, almost all transport nationally

UK:
£4,040 Darlington to York - standard class rail travel, no other transport

Even Switzerland, where base fares are very expensive, has a cap way before the price of the Darlington to York ticket.

Switzerland:
CHF3,860 (£2,970) - standard class, almost all transport nationally

Edited for clarity, by adding one word to the second line ("almost") to avoid pedantry taking over from the actual point!

 

[ESXNeil]

BR used to do an annual all line season ticket which I believe wasn't restricted to a single named individual so companies could buy one and staff could use it as required - I remember seeing the details in the back of the National Fares Manuals. I thought it was stopped rather than still being available via application to ATOC / Rail Delivery Group.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Germany:
€4,395 (£3,837) - standard class, all transport nationally

Incorrect! It includes public transport in cities which have the "City-Ticket" option for regular travel and also excludes a small amount of non-DB trains (e.g. the Bahncard 100 is not valid on Rurtalbahn services etc.).

 

[yorksrob]

But it would give the press and Labour some more ammo for their 'UK trains are so expensive' stories which they run every new year.

And going by the prices quoted in the original post, they would be right to as they clearly are too expensive.

 

[cactustwirly]

And going by the prices quoted in the original post, they would be right to as they clearly are too expensive.

Probably, but to solve that you'd need to increase the amount of state support to the railways.
Remember that countries like Austria and Germany, have a higher % of government funding than the UK.
Comparisons between countries like Hungary, Czech Republic etc are not very accurate, as these countries have a low cost of living, but also a much lower minimum wage than the UK.

 

[RT4038]

Probably, but to solve that you'd need to increase the amount of state support to the railways.
Remember that countries like Austria and Germany, have a higher % of government funding than the UK.
Comparisons between countries like Hungary, Czech Republic etc are not very accurate, as these countries have a low cost of living, but also a much lower minimum wage than the UK.

You also have to consider the general economic and cultural conditions of the country - In spite of these seemingly bargain fares there is not much long distance commuting taking place. Taxation is much higher and the residential market is completely different to ours. Reducing long distance commuting fares in the UK would have some pretty undesirable economic and social effects! You can't cherry pick particular costs in foreign countries.

 

[yorksrob]

Probably, but to solve that you'd need to increase the amount of state support to the railways.
Remember that countries like Austria and Germany, have a higher % of government funding than the UK.

This has always been a problem in this country. Unfortunately the Government is still pursuing the policy of driving down state support for the railways below what is sustainable.

You also have to consider the general economic and cultural conditions of the country - In spite of these seemingly bargain fares there is not much long distance commuting taking place. Taxation is much higher and the residential market is completely different to ours. Reducing long distance commuting fares in the UK would have some pretty undesirable economic and social effects! You can't cherry pick particular costs in foreign countries.

But by that logic, we end up saddled by two economic problems - unnecessarily high public transport fares and the basket case housing economy in the South East. They both need to be tackled, rather than tolerated.

 

[cactustwirly]

This has always been a problem in this country. Unfortunately the Government is still pursuing the policy of driving down state support for the railways below what is sustainable.



But by that logic, we end up saddled by two economic problems - unnecessarily high public transport fares and the basket case housing economy in the South East. They both need to be tackled, rather than tolerated.

Where's the money going to come from?
With the houses, it's a big problem, and not an easy way to solve it.
We need more skilled jobs in other parts of the country.

This is getting way off topic, but it's swings and roundabouts.
Germany is more expensive than the UK for long distance travel, especially since they don't really have cheap off peak tickets, for long distance trains.

 

[RT4038]

This has always been a problem in this country. Unfortunately the Government is still pursuing the policy of driving down state support for the railways below what is sustainable.



But by that logic, we end up saddled by two economic problems - unnecessarily high public transport fares and the basket case housing economy in the South East. They both need to be tackled, rather than tolerated.

I am not disagreeing with you. However, we are where we are, as a result of policies (good or bad depending on your view) on taxation levels vs. public spending spanning at least 50 years, which are generally different to European countries. Not easily 'tackled', esp. to those who would be adversely affected.

 

[radamfi]

Germany is more expensive than the UK for long distance travel, especially since they don't really have cheap off peak tickets, for long distance trains.

I'm sure the cheapest Advance headline grabbing single fares in GB are cheaper than the cheapest train specific fare in Germany for most comparable journeys, but you have to take the BahnCard 50 into account when making comparisons of walk on fares.

 

[swt class 450]

I have just sent an email to the Rail Delivery Group so hopefully they will reply soon. It would be really interesting to find out more about these very elusive annual All Line Rover tickets for the UK.

 

[D6700]

Incorrect! It includes public transport in cities which have the "City-Ticket" option for regular travel and also excludes a small amount of non-DB trains (e.g. the Bahncard 100 is not valid on Rurtalbahn services etc.).

Whilst you are correct, I'm not sure why you chose my post, as opposed to the original. Mine was merely a long-hand re-quote of it, where I wanted to make a specific comparison!

The point I was making was simply that the price of a rail only annual season ticket for a 44 mile/70 km UK regional route (i.e. not London) was more expensive than one covering the whole of Germany, which includes other local transport. Jumping on a couple of minor exceptions risks missing the point.

 

[axlecounter]

Italy: none that covers at least more than one region AND more than one type of service AND is annual (instead of monthly)

 

[Arriva Fan]

I thought they might get the first class version! They are MPs after all! Not a surprise really! I can't imagine Emmanuel Macron and his MPs wanting to mix with the common peasants!

Interesting to hear that Denmark has withdrawn theirs. I suppose it must not have been that popular. Was it good value? Any idea how much it cost before it was withdrawn?

Those annual tickets for the Isle Of Man are amazing value for just £75.00 to travel on all of their railways for a year! They are cheaper than most weekly train tickets in the UK and are even cheaper than many of our longer distance Single and Return tickets!

Although if you want a ticket for the buses in the Isle Of Man then it costs an extortionate £800.00 a year just for the buses or £880.00 a year for the buses and trains! It's amazing how much cheaper the trains are on the island!

Yes, the GoPlatinum Card is unbelievably good value. If you buy the entire network Card, after only 7 Full return trips from Douglas to Port Erin/Ramsey, you're saving money. It's no surprise they're incredibly popular.

True, a GoPlatinum Bus Card is much more expensive, however the Bus Vannin Service is more frequent and serves every area. The Rail Service (currently) only serves the East Coast.

The £880 GoPlatinum Card, the Reserve Card, does also include access to all Manx National Heritage Sites.