eezy.nrw - saving money on fares in Nordrhein Westfalen?

airinter said:

There are currently trials for an app-based check in & check out system where you pay a fixed fee of €1,50.plus 0,25 per km direct distance between start and terminus, which may be consideraby cheaper than zonal or routed fares. It is expected to roll out as 'eezy nrw' from December, but i have not tried it yet.

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This appears to have gone live.

Has anyone tried it and have there been any price comparisons to traditional tickets? The eezy.nrw website is somewhat vague.

https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?002,9894714

Lengthy thread here, if you can read German (or get it translated!)

Typically complicated, the thing is: the distance is Luftlinie, as the crow flies, not the distance the train/bus actually travels so for some journies on winding indirect routes it could be especially cheap.

The Drehscheibe forum says there’s a price cap (Preisdeckel) set at the current single ticket fare, so it can’t be any more expensive (if I understand correctly).

eastwestdivide said:

The Drehscheibe forum says there’s a price cap (Preisdeckel) set at the current single ticket fare, so it can’t be any more expensive (if I understand correctly).

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In usual German fashion, this new fare system is very complicated. The price cap making single journeys never more expensive than standard fares is only effective within the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr area (with very few exceptions). The Westfalentarif has some caps for single tickets, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg and Aachener Verkehrsverbund have none. For example Aachen to Monschau by eezy is €7.80, but the standard fare is €5.60.

The prices for each kilometer also differ between these different areas, as do the daily cap and e.g. bicycle add-on prices. There is however a NRW-wide maximum price of 30€ a day (2nd class) across the state.

The major stumbleblock for foreigners most likely will be the payment method, I assume only german Banks will be accepted-though EU rules state that any IBAN should be valid.
As such its new in this area, but broadly same trials have been made in several other areas/Verkehrsverbünde, most with an app and check In and OUT at very start and after last (bus) trip on arrival. Results hitherto have not really been very encouraging to further roll-out. Also most people who use public transit more regularly will have some form of season ticket.
If you want to see how it works with anyone on the fone: Oslo/ruter in Norway and South-Sweden, Skanetrafiken have gone nearly completely via that method. The new tramway in Tampere/FI also has no obvious way of payment anymore-casual visitors pay like in London: with their bankcard.

I looked at it and it said credit/debit cards worked.

One thing I wonder is how it would handle if you left it on for a round trip, thus only incurring one starting fee rather than two? i assume it is clever enough to record "maximum displacement", as otherwise in that case the fare would be zero.

Dusseldorf Hbf to Köln Hbf is 9,10 on eezy, 11,90 on paper or 10,71 via the (traditional) app, but Köln Godorf to Dusseldorf Airport would be 12,80 on eezy. The best option for a cheap day return would actually be a 24hr ticket from Leverkusen which is valid for unlimited journeys to both Dusseldorf and Cologne for only 13,90, or 13,20 via app, or 20,20 for up to five people, or 19,19... add fares for Intercity and Banhcard-discounts, Flixtrain and Thalys and you get the picture.

Eezy is another addition to an existing multitude of fare systems with lots of caveats and discounts. Make sure to check again and again as they keep changing the rules, often at the end of the year.

There have been similar attempts in the past which failed miserably, either for technical reasons or people were reluctant to share their data. Eezy is currently only for supported smartphones and by creditcard or Paypal only, so many people will not qualify.

airinter said:

Dusseldorf Hbf to Köln Hbf is 9,10 on eezy, 11,90 on paper or 10,71 via the (traditional) app,

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Thank you. I believe that these fares are set by VRS not by VRR, even though Duesseldorf is in VRR, and you would need the VRS app or ticket machine.

airinter said:

The best option for a cheap day return would actually be a 24hr ticket from Leverkusen which is valid for unlimited journeys to both Dusseldorf and Cologne for only 13,90, or 13,20 via app, or 20,20 for up to five people, or 19,19...

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I believe this is VRS Preissstufe 3.
Am I right in thinking that the 13,90 paper ticket would only be available for this journey if you start in Leverkusen and stamp it there?
Whereas if you use the VRS app, you can start in Duesseldorf or Cologne but stamp it as if you were starting in Leverkusen?

Feuillesmortes said:

Am I right in thinking that the 13,90 paper ticket would only be available for this journey if you start in Leverkusen and stamp it there?
Whereas if you use the VRS app, you can start in Duesseldorf or Cologne but stamp it as if you were starting in Leverkusen?

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I've not checked the zones or prices but assuming they're correct, then yes you would need to start in Leverkusen.

On the app, you can set your origin zone. When I last travelled to NRW, I was advised (by a transport enthusiast) that if I bought an app ticket from Leverkusen but wanted to start my travel elsewhere, I should buy the ticket and then wait until enough time had passed such that I could have made a journey from Leverkusen to my actual location.

VRR-branded machines do sell VRS-fares, at least those in stations where both fares apply, but you may find very different machines in trams and buses with limited ranges.

Old-style ticketinspectors may be curious about the Leverkusen loophole but that has been around for decades at other stations too and is perfectly legal. These days you will most likely encounter some private subcontractor with a barcode scanner who does not know much about fares anyway.

Each local transport company feels an urgend need to have their own ticket machine and a dedicated app, although that may be just a rebadged version of the same backend.

There is a trial for uber-style electric vehicles in some parts of Cologne named isi (sic) that is somewhat integrated into VRS but not compatible with eezy. Some journey planners will display on demand services like ordinary bus routes even though you have to book these in advance, sometimes via some app, sometimes calling a dodgy minicab office. Be carefull if anything named Taxibus, Rufbus or Anrufsammeltaxi pops up.

There is much room for improvement and things evolve constantly, somtimes abruptly.

airinter said:

Old-style ticket inspectors may be curious about the Leverkusen loophole but that has been around for decades at other stations too and is perfectly legal..

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I can see how people can pretend to have started their journey in Leverkusen in the app, but how were people taking advantage of the loophole before apps existed?