The new electronic travel ticket, the Rejsekort, can now be used nationally, but it comes with a new tariff system that could mean even higher prices for some passengers, and a system that critics claim leads to undeserved fines.
Niklas Marschall, the sales and marketing director of DSB, conceded to Ritzau that it is not easy to say who will benefit from the new e-ticketing system.
“Some customers will consider it is a better idea to keep the tickets they already have, rather than switch to the Rejsekort – if they just look at the prices,” he said.
“I can understand, though, if some customers find it difficult to make the choice.”
In March, a report in metroXpress demonstrated how regular commuters (who travel to and from work at least 18 times a month) would be between 200-800 kroner worse off a month if they switched from their travel card to the Rejsekort.
The Consumer Council believes that the idea to establish a nationwide electronic travel card is a good one, but that there are problems.
“It does not seem as if the Rejsekort system had been thought through before it became a reality,” the Consumer Council’s senior adviser, Lise Bjorg Pedersen, told Politiken.
On www.trustpilot.dk, many passengers have already criticised the Rejsekort for being too expensive and hard to understand. “Stay far, far away from the Rejsekort,” wrote one commenter, while another called it a “completely incompetent system”.
Additionally, many do not trust the system, which requires customers to check in when boarding and check out when leaving. Already, passengers are claiming the system does not work.
One passenger, Morten Lund, who regularly commutes between Copenhagen and Aalborg, received a fine of 750 kroner on the Metro because the inspector claimed he had not checked in with his Rejsekort. Lund was adamant that he had, but could not prove it.
“I think it is very irresponsible that consumer safety is not given higher priority with the Rejsekort,” he told Politiken. “With a ticket or a clip-card I can prove that I paid for my trip, but I have no chance of doing that with my Rejsekort.”
The Metro’s communications manager, Jette Clausen, rejected suggestions the system did not work.
“We have every confidence that the system works as it should,” he told the newspaper. “If you do not trust the system or our inspectors, you must buy a clip-card or a ticket so you can get a written record.”
The Rejsekort system has been beset by a raft of technical issues that have delayed its introduction by years and nearly doubled its cost, which in March stood at a projected 1.4 billion kroner.
