According to the EU Parliament, many rail connections between European cities are not booked because they are not offered by search engines.
The Commission hopes to show travelers alternative travel routes and thus take a further step towards a climate-neutral continent, which the EU aims to become with the Green Deal by 2050.
Criticism comes in particular from railway operators. Some European companies like Renfe in Spain, SNCF in France or Deutsche Bahn do not want to share their travel and fare information with search sites because they do not want their competitors to obtain this data. The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Undertakings (CER) even suggests that the project could lead to an increase in ticket prices.
What should change
A new European law should therefore be adopted to make it easier for online reservation providers to become true providers of multi-modal digital mobility services (MDMS), according to information from Energy Monitor.
In the future, travelers will see all air, rail, road and sea connections. Furthermore, transport companies should be obliged to make their data available to research platforms. According to EU plans, customers should also be able to purchase combined tickets for different modes of transport via all online platforms.
