“We assume that next year – like all our competitors – we will increase the price of tickets. We will raise prices by roughly ten percent. Those reasons are the rising prices of all costs. We will also have to partially increase wages, as inflation and other objective causes will lead us to do so,” said Krigar. This year, the GW Jihotrans group added between nine and 12 percent to its employees.
GW Train Regio, the second largest regional carrier in the Czech Republic after Czech Railways, is also considering dividing the prices for the transport of ordinary bicycles and electric bicycles. The number of electric bicycles is increasing, they make up more than half of all bicycles that GW Jihotrans transports on trains and buses.
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“It’s starting to be a bit of a problem with the weight, the loaders have to be more physically fit. Then there is the question of the price of an e-bike, where any claim is in a different currency than a normal bike. And bike holders were designed for a certain weight, and today some e-bikes exceed that weight. There is starting to be a problem with the attachment of these wheels,” said the director. Transporting an electric bike could thus be more expensive than a regular bike.
In South Bohemia, the company operates regional passenger rail transport on the so-called Šumava locales. They are the lines České Budějovice – Černý Kříž, Číčenice – Nové Údolí and Strakonice – Volary. It also operates trains in the Karlovy Vary, Hradec Králové, Moravian-Silesian and Ústí regions, as well as the R25 express line Plzeň – Most. From the end of 2023, it will also provide passenger transport in Pošumaví in the Pilsen Region. The company employs about 270 people, of which about 180 are train drivers.
GW Train Regio’s sales and profit increased last year. Net turnover increased year-on-year by five percent to 486.1 million crowns and profit after tax by 29 percent to 9.6 million. The company transported 1.69 million passengers last year. This follows from the annual report of the company, which belongs to the GW Jihotrans group.
