Originally Posted by
gpia
Well, you have been required to show your ticket to bus drivers in DUS for a couple of years now.
Agree with your point about it being a philosophical issue, but also agree with others that the Skytrain issue is pretty confusing. It really is a German thing to have a rulebook about which ticket might or might not be eligible for a free ride on the Skytrain. Especially since the English website of DB sells the nonstop ICE ticket from Cologne to "Düsseldorf Flughafen" - not Fernbahnhof, Jamaica Station or anything else. Reasonable for an unsuspecting foreigner to believe it's part of the actual airport.
I believe that this is one of the reasons why the requirement of a ticket is not seriously enforced.
The Skytrain was not built with the Airport's (Shareholder City of Düsseldorf and indirectly a JV of Hochtief and Aer Rianta) money but entirely with the taxpayers' money. Given that it
had to be part of the public transport system in the state and given that it can be used with all tickets good for public transport in the region (as regional and local public transport is under the supervision of the state and subsidiesed by the state).
Tickets of the long distance operators like Deutsche Bahn are not good for regional transport not operated by Deutsche Bahn, so they are not good for the Skytrain.
Probably 95% and more of the pax do not care because they either continue on a regional service and need a regional ticket anyway, hold a pass or a Bahncard (giving you free local transport on long distance tickets) or have another instrument allowing to use the Skytrain. Several others are buying a ticket and we probably survive the few fare dodgers