Because of the nine-euro ticket, regional transport should be full again at the beginning of the summer holidays. The Pro Bahn passenger association therefore advises switching to ICE and IC. “We recommend to all travelers: If you want to go on vacation now, you should use long-distance transport and reserve seats there,” said the honorary chairman of the association, Karl-Peter Naumann, of the German Press Agency. Demand is otherwise too high, especially on routes with a fast regional express connection.

“But the companies can certainly not retrofit any more because there are neither the vehicles nor the staff, especially in NRW,” said Naumann. The summer holidays have already begun in North Rhine-Westphalia, and other federal states will follow shortly.

In fact, long-distance transport seems to remain a popular option for many travelers despite the cheap regional transport offers. With a view to the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) observed “that holidaymakers on the long routes, for example in the direction of Bavaria or Berlin, sometimes switch to long-distance rail transport or long-distance buses, which require fewer changes and are faster,” said VDV President Ingo Wortman.