Traveling in Germany - paperless, convenient & cheap; why can't Japan?

 

Dresden

Last month, I traveled Europe for the first time in three years.  First, I went to Germany to visit several interesting cites, Leipzig, Eisenach, and Weimar, which are remembered in connection with Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as well as Dresden. After that, for my husband’s research about Kaii Higashiyama, the Japanese famous painter, we also visited Berlin and Lübeck.

 

This visit, we mainly used trains. When I was thinking of how I should get the train tickets, one of our friends who lives in Germany advised me to buy them on the website of DB (Deutsche Bahn AG), so I tried. Soon I found the application of DB for my iPhone. From my experience, apps are easier to use than websites, so I downloaded it without hesitation. 

First, you enter the stations where you want to board and get off, and the departure time. Then some variations of tickets are shown, and you choose the type of train, class, cancellation conditions and so on. Of course, the price depends on the conditions. 

You can also choose your seat. After all that, you proceed to paying by credit card. Finally, you get your digital tickets on the app or in your email and you just board to the train. If you have checked in on the app after being seated, the conductor recognizes you are seated right place with the ticket.  If you manage your ticketing with the app, you don’t need to wait in the long queues in front of the ticket counter or panicking about your turn and missing the train you want. 

 

Nowadays, also we can buy air tickets on app paper waste. 

 

9 Euro Ticket

One more good thing about travelling in Germany by train was that I could use a one-month ticket for only 9 Euro. It is a special ticket by the German government to save energy. This vacation season, even tourists can travel around Germany on all local public transport, such as buses and trams, and in second class on regional trains, except Intercity Express, Intercity and Eurocity. What a wonderful scheme!! 

After I arrived at the airport in Germany, I bought this useful ticket and later I didn’t need to buy any more tickets (except for using Intercity). By the way, I didn’t have a chance to show my ticket during the journey, because there was no ticket gate at stations, and no one checked my ticket for boarding to each transportation in Germany. This time I felt the generosity of Germany. Why can’t the Japanese government?

 

Teruki