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Deutsche Bahn scraps service charge plan

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn announced on Friday it was cancelling a much-criticized plan to add a €2.50 surcharge on tickets purchased from service personnel at the ticket counter.

Published: 12 September 2008 09:46 CEST

Deutsche Bahn scraps service charge plan

Worth an extra €2.50? Photo: DPA

The new surcharge would have gone into effect on December 14, but after top politicians criticized the idea, Bahn had been considering an end to the plan.

Before the decision was announced on Friday, German Consumer Protection Minister Horst Seehofer rejected the plans, saying that charging more when customers buy their rail tickets from a human being “should be completely rejected for several reasons.”

He added that in other European countries passengers receive a rebate when they buy tickets online or from a vending machine.

Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee had also expressed his misgivings about the scheme.

“It’s clear to the board that it’s not worth starting a war for this fee,” a member of the company’s supervisory board told Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel on Friday.

Germany's Scholz rejects calls for later retirement in Labour Day message

“For me, it is a question of decency not to deny those who have worked for a long time the retirement they deserve,” said Scholz.

Employees in Germany worked more hours in 2023 than ever before: “That’s why it annoys me when some people talk disparagingly about ‘Germany’s theme park’ – or when people call for raising the retirement age,” he said.

Scholz also warned of creating uncertainty due to new debates about the retirement age. “Younger people who are just starting out in their working lives also have the right to know how long they have to work,” he said.

Scholz did not explicitly say who the criticism was targeted at, but at its party conference last weekend, the coalition partner FDP called for the abolition of pensions at 63 for those with long-term insurance, angering its government partners SPD and the Greens.

Scholz saw the introduction of the minimum wage nine years ago – and its increase to twelve euros per hour by his government – as a “great success”. “The proportion of poorly paid jobs in our country has shrunk as a result,” he said.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Is it worthwhile to set up a private pension plan in Germany?

However, he said there were still too many people “who work hard for too little money,” highlighting the additional support available through housing benefit, child allowance and the reduction of social security contributions for low earners.

“Good collective wage agreements also ensure that many employees finally have more money in their pockets again,” he added.

And he said that the country wouldn’t “run out of work” in the coming years.

“On the contrary! We need more workers,” he said, explaining that that’s why his government is ensuring “that those who fled to us from Russia’s war in Ukraine get work more quickly.”

Work means “more than making money,” said Scholz. “Work also means: belonging, having colleagues, experiencing recognition and appreciation.”

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