BahnCard (German Bahn – Rail) is a loyalty card offered by Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company. Unlike airline loyalty programs, but similarly to the UK Young Persons Railcard, the BahnCard entitles the passenger to a discount price and must be purchased prior to travel. The BahnCard is valid for a year, all passengers are eligible, and it is non-transferrable. By buying a BahnCard, the customer actually subscribes to a service which will per default be extended on yearly bases. The cancellation deadline is six weeks prior to renewal. The cancellation must be in writing. Three variants are sold by Deutsche Bahn: The BahnCard 25, the BahnCard 50, and the Mobility BahnCard 100. The first two variants allow passengers to get 25% and 50% discount respectively on standard rail fares, while the Mobility BahnCard 100 is a type of annual ticket that allows free unlimited travel on most of the German railway network for a fixed price.
In 2007 there were 4.01 million BahnCard holders in Germany. More than half of the passenger revenue of Deutsche Bahn comes from tickets sold to BahnCard holders.
Apart from entitling the holder to discounts, the BahnCard also functions as an ID card for the validation of online tickets, mobile phone tickets, and for purchasing tickets on vending machines. Bahncard holders can also call a discounted hotline printed on the cards, and an optional travel insurance can be included.
Motivation
The main motivation for introducing the BahnCard was to increase competitiveness against the automobile. Prior to the BahnCard, Deutsche Bahn priced a trip between any two points in direct proportion to the distance travelled; this pricing structure proved uncompetitive with driving. The card allowed a two-dimensional pricing schedule, which consists of card price (a fixed cost), and ticket price (a variable cost). Once a passenger has bought a card, its price becomes a sunk cost and this makes the train more like the automobile, which is also characterised by high fixed costs. The decision whether to take a car or train for a particular journey depends mostly on the marginal price per kilometer, not on the total cost. The effect of the BahnCard was to shift the marginal cost of the train journey below that of the car journey for many customers.
History
Predecessors: 1955-1992
A predecessor of the present-day Bahncard was introduced in 1955 by Franz-Josef Wuermeling, the then Minister for Family Affairs. Discounted train tickets became available for families with many children, and the eligibility pass became known as " The Wuermeling ". This pass was offered until 1999.
In 1975 a Senior rail pass was introduced by the Bundesbahn , valid for men older than 65 years and women older than 60 years, and entitling them to a discount of 50% on long-distance train tickets. Later similar passes were introduced for minors and families, valid for journeys longer than 51 km (reduced to 31 km later). In the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DDR) , the East German rail company, which was later merged with the Bundesbahn , normal student ID cards entitled students to a discount of 50% on all journeys and 75% if the journey was between home and university.
Introduction and growth: 1992-2002
The Bahncard itself was introduced on 1 October 1992. Initially the card was available for second class travel and 50% discount only, but at Christmas 1992 the BahnCard First for the first class was launched along with gift vouchers for the new product. By the end of the year, it was bought by 650,000 clients. A major advertising campaign was started by the (then called) Bundesbahn , where the card was marketed under the slogan travel for a year for half the price . The TV advertising campaign for the new product won several awards. The indroduction of the BahnCard coincided with the launch of the high speed InterCityExpress trains, a luxury service that gained wider customer acceptance than previous intercity trains. One million Bahncards were sold by 20 January 1993.
In July 1995 a BahnCard with credit card functionality was introduced in cooperation with Citybank. Two new versions were now offered in addition to the original card, a BahnCard with Visa payment and credit card function a BahnCard with Visa Electron payment (a rechargeable debit card). The credit card Bahncards were valid for a period of two years, and the regular card still for a period of one year. The validity of the cards was altered from the exact day to the end of a month. The new cards now also included a photograph of the customer. The DM 50 (€25) fee for replacement cards (in case of loss) was abolished, and a dining car voucher worth €5 was included with new cards. The customer data and photographs were processed in the USA, which raised privacy concerns with some groups.
This campaign, called "better Bahncard" was criticised by the newspaper Die Zeit in June 1996, which reported that customers were tricked into buying the credit card version against their will and that organisational errors lead to delays of several months and the delivery of incorrect cards. In June 1996 the magazine Focus reported that "CitiBank must improve Bahncards". Despite a high profile marketing campaign, customers largely rejected the "better Bahncard"; only 390,000 were sold by May 1996 instead of the projected 1.5 million. The partnership with CitiBank was terminated on 31 March 1999.
In 1995, the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund was the first local public transport network outside Deutsche Bahn to join the Bahncard system. A 40% discount on all local train, tram and bus tickets was offered to Bahncard holders, and included in promotional tickets such as the Guten-Abend-Ticket . Long distance DB tickets with Frankfurt as a destination also allowed a single free connecting journey for non-Bahncard customers. In exchange, Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund customers were able to use Deutsche Bahn Interregio (regional) trains for free. Commuters who held season tickets of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund could now also use Intercity, Eurocity, and InterCityExpress trains in the Rhein-Main area for a small surcharge.
New tariff model and diversification: 2002-present
Towards the end of 2002, Deutsche Bahn undertook a major reform of its pricing strategy. The linear pricing model (where ticket prices were fixed and proportional to distance travelled) that had existed for over a century was partly replaced with a new model. Though the old fare system for standard tickets was kept largely unchanged, a degree of yield management was introduced for discounted tickets . As a part of this reform the discount offered to Bahncard holders was reduced from 50% to 25%. The justification was that the Bahncard discount was now valid on top of the new saver fares (called Plan-und-Spar ) that offered discounts of up to 40% on the standard fares but were only available under certain conditions (non-exchangeable; booking more than 3 days in advance; return journey required; "weekeend rule"; limited number of seats).
This reform proved highly unpopular with customers.After passenger protests and declining passenger numbers, the pricing model was modified again in August 2003. The original 50% discount Bahncard was reintroduced alongside the 25% Bahncard, however its price was increased from €120 to €200. The non-transferrable Bahncard 100 was also introduced to replace the previous (partially transferrable) network cards.
14 December 2003 the City ticket (see below) was launched in 44 cities in cooperation with the Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (Union of German Transport Operators), Deutsche Bahn, and the individual local transport companies. On 12 December 2004 another 13 cities joined the scheme, on 11 December 2005 (coinciding with the new DB timetable) another 19, on 1 April 2007 another 16, and on 10 December 2007 yet 7 more. 100 million rail tickets with "City-ticket" function were sold by the beginning of 2008.
Between 2004 and 2008 the number of BahnCard holders grew by one million to 4.01 million, the highest in the history of the card. Deutsche Bahn plans to increase this number to 5 million by 2011. In 2007 DB announced that it plans to reintroduce a BahnCard with credit card functionality.
Current tariff structure
Bahncard 25
Unlike the Bahncard 50, the Bahncard 25 also entitles the passenger to 25% discounts on top of fares already discounted by 25-50%, called SparPreise 25/50 , that are available under certain constraints such as advance purchase. It also entitles to group discounts, which are meant to make rail travel more attractive to groups of passengers who would have travelled by car otherwise.
Bahncard 100 customers receive a free Bahncard 25 for a partner or family member. Families can purchase additional Bahncard 25s for household members for about 1/5 of the price. Minors can purchase a card for €10 that is valid for three years instead of one.
The number of Bahncard 25 holders is growing fas
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