7 ms·

Netherlands makes trains free on national book day for those who show a book

115 points by ohjeez 8y ago

renholder 8y ago
The title is misleading: "A book" tends to inclinate that it's not a specific book, which is the anithesis to the fact that the Boekenweekgeschenk very much is.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- hencq 8y ago
  Well you're not wrong, but not only is that in the article, it's literally the next line below the title.
11235813213455 8y ago
Do e-books count? I hope so, they have the same capability or even better (search), and no environmental impact
- Scarblac 8y ago
  Boekenweek is organised by book stores, if you buy a book in that week you get an extra one free, the "boekenweek present". It's exclusively written for that edition boekenweek and can be used as a train ticket on sunday. E-books have great features no doubt, but people buy them online, and traditional book stores aren't fans.
  - skookumchuck 8y ago
    Sounds like a massive subsidy to bookstores. Ironically, I bet people today read far more than ever, as that's how they interact with their phones.
    - Scarblac 8y ago
      Subsidy? I don't think there is much government money involved, except that the railways are state-owned.
      - skookumchuck 8y ago
        I don't know specifically about the Dutch railways, but government operated utilities usually are subsidized by the taxpayers. It's certainly true in Seattle, where the government transportation network operates at massive losses made up by the taxpayers.
        Scarblac 8y ago
        In the Netherlands it's a bit complicated. The rail infrastructure company (ProRail) is subsidized (just like e.g. highways), but the national railway company (NS) that runs most of the passenger trains on it actually pays for the privilege and isn't subsidized. But this sponsorship just makes sense as marketing for them, they want to be seen as a way to travel that can be combined with reading a book, since you can't driving a car. That is not "massive subsidy".
        mcv 8y ago
        The NS is government owned, but not government operated. They privatised and liberalised the public transport market during the neoliberal privatisation wave of the 1990s, despite trains obviously being a natural monopoly in their own market. It later got split into the railway infrastructure (ProRail, which owns the tracks) and railway operation (NS, which runs the trains and competes to a limited extent with other train companies). NS runs at a profit, though may receive subsidies to run non-profitable lines, though other operators can also bid on those lines, and particularly in less densely populated, and therefore less profitable, parts of the country, some of these lines are run by other companies (usually either foreign owned or set up by bus companies). Personally I think the real profit of a good public transit system should not be in money, but in public mobility. More people using the train also means less cars on the road and therefore less traffic jams. And being run for profit makes the NS care less about that aspect. For that reason, I'd prefer if they'd kept it state-operated and run specifically as an alternative to cars.
- j0057 8y ago
  There's infrastructure involved in delivering an ebook to the customer, data centers to store them on, devices with rare metals to read them on, ... You could maybe argue (or not) that that's environmentally more friendly than pressing a book on paper and physically delivering that to a person, but 'no environmental impact' seems like a stretch.
- Denvercoder9 8y ago
  Yes, e-books count as well.
WJW 8y ago
This has been a tradition for decades now, but the title makes it seem like a new thing. Also, as renholder already mentions, you can only travel free by train with the book you get as a present when buying a book during the yearly "book week".
- nonbel 8y ago
  ">Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the Dutch state railway company" So everyone is also paying slightly higher taxes to pay for it. It is not free, the cost is just obfuscated. Imagine if they just raised taxes and then made every week book week.
  - nonbel 8y ago
    More and more people are down-voting reality on this site. It will be interesting to see what this correlates with.
    - mcv 8y ago
      That comment is downvoted because it makes an incorrect assumption. People on HN tend to downvote incorrect assumptions, especially when presented as reality.
      - nonbel 8y ago
        Do dutch state railway companies not receive funds from taxes?
        mcv 8y ago
        They do not get general subsidies as far as I'm aware, though they probably get specific subsidies for some specific purposes, like servicing lines in thinly populated areas that might otherwise not be commercially viable. But those subsidies are equally available to other train operators. I don't think they receive any kind of subsidy for this particular event; it's just standard marketing stuff.
winkelwagen 8y ago
It's a fun tradition. We like to complain every opportunity we can about the dutch railways. But it could be a lot worse. Traveling on that Sunday by train is always fun, because it feels that with a lot of companion travels you share this love for books, creating a different atmosphere from traveling different days. "Boekenweek" is one of the most memorable "commercial celebration" weeks for me at least, remember fun activities at libraries when I was a kid.
- rocgf 8y ago
  I don't have a lot of data points, but comparing the Dutch railway system to the one in the UK, there is a very clear winner. The trains in the Netherlands have a fixed price and are rarely delayed or cancelled. Also, the OV-chipkaart is great - you can use the same card on trains, trams, buses and underground across the Netherlands.
  - jeromegv 8y ago
    This seems to be a typical thing with public services / transit. Locals will complain and find flaws no matter how good the service is. However for 95% of the western world, Dutch railways are an example of how good it could be.
  - randomsearch 8y ago
    The UK is also, sadly, a very low bar to compare against wrt public transport.
  - Carpetsmoker 8y ago
    I used to complain about the Dutch railway system. Then I moved to the UK and realized how much better it is, not to mention cheaper and predictable pricing! None of this pre-order or "if you get a return via the same route it's 40p more expensive but if you get a return via a different route it's £40 more expensive" nonsense.[1] I didn't travel much until a few years ago, but since then I've come to learn that the Dutch railways is probably the best I've seen yet (which doesn't necessarily mean it's the best as I can't compare all systems, but certainly seems among the best). UK trains tend to have better service though: more power sockets (although I assume it's more common in NL too now? Haven't been in 4 years), and better catering. There's almost always coffee, and some trains even have a bar with beer/wine at comparatively reasonable prices. Where I'm currently living in New Zealand doesn't even have a train connection, even though it sports a famous railway station :-( [1]: See my confusion here: https://travel.stackexchange.com/q/37196/20608 https://travel.stackexchange.com/q/37196/20608
timzaman 8y ago
Once you experience the US public transportation system (trams, busses.. dit I mention Caltrain?), one realizes how good the Dutch system is. Practically none of my Dutch friends have a car. I don't know any one in the bay area without at least one.
- randomsearch 8y ago
  The best thing about US public transit is that it makes UK transit look good by comparison.
- mcv 8y ago
  We love to complain about Dutch public transport because of how stupid and incompetent it frequently is, but then you look across the border and see how much worse it could be.
RickJWagner 8y ago
They should give an extra day's travel if the book-holder is not carrying a smart phone.
ars 8y ago
The specific book is: Jas Van Belofte Which has pretty atrocious reviews on https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44283944-jas-van-belofte https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44283944-jas-van-belofte I used Google translate to check that it's not brigading or something because of book week, but no, people really do seem to hate the book.

115 points by ohjeez 8y ago

The title is misleading: "A book" tends to inclinate that it's not a specific book, which is the anithesis to the fact that the Boekenweekgeschenk very much is.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
hencq 8y ago
Well you're not wrong, but not only is that in the article, it's literally the next line below the title.

11235813213455 8y ago

Do e-books count? I hope so, they have the same capability or even better (search), and no environmental impact

Scarblac 8y ago
Boekenweek is organised by book stores, if you buy a book in that week you get an extra one free, the "boekenweek present". It's exclusively written for that edition boekenweek and can be used as a train ticket on sunday. E-books have great features no doubt, but people buy them online, and traditional book stores aren't fans.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  Sounds like a massive subsidy to bookstores. Ironically, I bet people today read far more than ever, as that's how they interact with their phones.
  - Scarblac 8y ago
    Subsidy? I don't think there is much government money involved, except that the railways are state-owned.
    - skookumchuck 8y ago
      I don't know specifically about the Dutch railways, but government operated utilities usually are subsidized by the taxpayers. It's certainly true in Seattle, where the government transportation network operates at massive losses made up by the taxpayers.
      - Scarblac 8y ago
        In the Netherlands it's a bit complicated. The rail infrastructure company (ProRail) is subsidized (just like e.g. highways), but the national railway company (NS) that runs most of the passenger trains on it actually pays for the privilege and isn't subsidized. But this sponsorship just makes sense as marketing for them, they want to be seen as a way to travel that can be combined with reading a book, since you can't driving a car. That is not "massive subsidy".
      - mcv 8y ago
        The NS is government owned, but not government operated. They privatised and liberalised the public transport market during the neoliberal privatisation wave of the 1990s, despite trains obviously being a natural monopoly in their own market. It later got split into the railway infrastructure (ProRail, which owns the tracks) and railway operation (NS, which runs the trains and competes to a limited extent with other train companies). NS runs at a profit, though may receive subsidies to run non-profitable lines, though other operators can also bid on those lines, and particularly in less densely populated, and therefore less profitable, parts of the country, some of these lines are run by other companies (usually either foreign owned or set up by bus companies). Personally I think the real profit of a good public transit system should not be in money, but in public mobility. More people using the train also means less cars on the road and therefore less traffic jams. And being run for profit makes the NS care less about that aspect. For that reason, I'd prefer if they'd kept it state-operated and run specifically as an alternative to cars.
j0057 8y ago
There's infrastructure involved in delivering an ebook to the customer, data centers to store them on, devices with rare metals to read them on, ... You could maybe argue (or not) that that's environmentally more friendly than pressing a book on paper and physically delivering that to a person, but 'no environmental impact' seems like a stretch.
Denvercoder9 8y ago
Yes, e-books count as well.

WJW 8y ago

This has been a tradition for decades now, but the title makes it seem like a new thing. Also, as renholder already mentions, you can only travel free by train with the book you get as a present when buying a book during the yearly "book week".

nonbel 8y ago
">Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the Dutch state railway company" So everyone is also paying slightly higher taxes to pay for it. It is not free, the cost is just obfuscated. Imagine if they just raised taxes and then made every week book week.
- nonbel 8y ago
  More and more people are down-voting reality on this site. It will be interesting to see what this correlates with.
  - mcv 8y ago
    That comment is downvoted because it makes an incorrect assumption. People on HN tend to downvote incorrect assumptions, especially when presented as reality.
    - nonbel 8y ago
      Do dutch state railway companies not receive funds from taxes?
      - mcv 8y ago
        They do not get general subsidies as far as I'm aware, though they probably get specific subsidies for some specific purposes, like servicing lines in thinly populated areas that might otherwise not be commercially viable. But those subsidies are equally available to other train operators. I don't think they receive any kind of subsidy for this particular event; it's just standard marketing stuff.

winkelwagen 8y ago

It's a fun tradition. We like to complain every opportunity we can about the dutch railways. But it could be a lot worse. Traveling on that Sunday by train is always fun, because it feels that with a lot of companion travels you share this love for books, creating a different atmosphere from traveling different days. "Boekenweek" is one of the most memorable "commercial celebration" weeks for me at least, remember fun activities at libraries when I was a kid.

rocgf 8y ago
I don't have a lot of data points, but comparing the Dutch railway system to the one in the UK, there is a very clear winner. The trains in the Netherlands have a fixed price and are rarely delayed or cancelled. Also, the OV-chipkaart is great - you can use the same card on trains, trams, buses and underground across the Netherlands.
- jeromegv 8y ago
  This seems to be a typical thing with public services / transit. Locals will complain and find flaws no matter how good the service is. However for 95% of the western world, Dutch railways are an example of how good it could be.
- randomsearch 8y ago
  The UK is also, sadly, a very low bar to compare against wrt public transport.
- Carpetsmoker 8y ago
  I used to complain about the Dutch railway system. Then I moved to the UK and realized how much better it is, not to mention cheaper and predictable pricing! None of this pre-order or "if you get a return via the same route it's 40p more expensive but if you get a return via a different route it's £40 more expensive" nonsense.[1] I didn't travel much until a few years ago, but since then I've come to learn that the Dutch railways is probably the best I've seen yet (which doesn't necessarily mean it's the best as I can't compare all systems, but certainly seems among the best). UK trains tend to have better service though: more power sockets (although I assume it's more common in NL too now? Haven't been in 4 years), and better catering. There's almost always coffee, and some trains even have a bar with beer/wine at comparatively reasonable prices. Where I'm currently living in New Zealand doesn't even have a train connection, even though it sports a famous railway station :-( [1]: See my confusion here: https://travel.stackexchange.com/q/37196/20608 https://travel.stackexchange.com/q/37196/20608

timzaman 8y ago

Once you experience the US public transportation system (trams, busses.. dit I mention Caltrain?), one realizes how good the Dutch system is. Practically none of my Dutch friends have a car. I don't know any one in the bay area without at least one.

randomsearch 8y ago
The best thing about US public transit is that it makes UK transit look good by comparison.
mcv 8y ago
We love to complain about Dutch public transport because of how stupid and incompetent it frequently is, but then you look across the border and see how much worse it could be.

RickJWagner 8y ago

They should give an extra day's travel if the book-holder is not carrying a smart phone.

ars 8y ago

The specific book is: Jas Van Belofte Which has pretty atrocious reviews on https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44283944-jas-van-belofte https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44283944-jas-van-belofte I used Google translate to check that it's not brigading or something because of book week, but no, people really do seem to hate the book.