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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
by 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 agoMore and more people are down-voting reality on this site. It will be interesting to see what this correlates with.
- mcv 8y agoThat comment is downvoted because it makes an incorrect assumption. People on HN tend to downvote incorrect assumptions, especially when presented as reality.
- nonbel 8y agoDo dutch state railway companies not receive funds from taxes?
- mcv 8y agoThey 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.
- nonbel 8y agoSo you are not sure if they are receiving tax dollars or not, but think they probably do. It doesn't really matter if it is for a specific purpose or not, if they have less revenue from other sources they will need larger subsidies. What incorrect assumption were you referring to then?
- mcv 8y ago> What incorrect assumption were you referring to then? Pretty much every word in this comment[0]: "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." Yes, the cost is obfuscated, just like every marketing cost of every commercial company is obfuscated. It has nothing to do with being state-owned. Nobody is paying extra taxes for this. Not every week is ever going to be book week, and even if somehow it was, that wouldn't magically make train travel free on every day. That said, I would absolutely support making train travel cheaper or free and funding it from taxes, making the Dutch railways not focus on financial profit, but on improving mobility; making it an even more attractive alternative to cars, reducing traffic jams, and freeing up highways for traffic that has no alternative. But that's never going to happen in the current political landscape. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19600233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19600233
- nonbel 8y ago> "Yes, the cost is obfuscated, just like every marketing cost of every commercial company is obfuscated." The cost of marketing for a normal business is built into the price of the product. How is that obfuscated?
- mcv 8y agoYou're the one calling it obfuscated. It's exactly the same thing here.
- 8y ago
- Doxin 8y agoThe dutch national railways run a profit. There's subsidies for lowering the ticket prices iirc, but you're not gonna get that subsidy by giving away rides for free.