STATE-RUN Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) passenger carrier will decrease the price of tickets for its IC trains running between Bratislava and Košice. The prices will start at €12 for a one-way ticket, the Hospodárske Noviny daily reported in its December 1 issue.
The sale of these tickets will start at the end of this year or in the beginning of the next one, ZSSK spokesperson Jana Morháčová told the Sme daily. The company will also have some last minute offers for students and pensioners in less occupied trains which may be even below €10. The aim is to lure passengers who now travel by ordinary express trains for free back to IC trains, as reported by Sme.
ZSSK has also prepared a special loyalty offer within which they will return the whole sum for the ticket which the registered passenger will pay from mid-December to the end of February. The passengers will be able to use the returned sum in the form of various discounts.
The measures planned by ZSSK came one week after the private company RegioJet launched the sale of tickets for its trains that will be operating between Bratislava and Košice as of mid-December. The trains should run three times a day in both directions.
According to head of ZSSK Pavol Gábor, they want to compete with the private carrier not only with lower prices, but also with better services. They will introduce new first plus and second plus classes. Moreover, the price of the ticket for ordinary second class will include water and daily newspapers. The price of the ticket for the highest class should include a three-course menu. The ZSSK also plans to introduce separate waiting rooms with refreshments and free parking for passengers in this class in the future, Gábor told Hospodárske Noviny.
Source: Sme, Hospodárske Noviny
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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