76 percent want to keep their subscription
Germany ticket is well received
April 25, 2024, 6:05 p.m
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While the federal and state governments continue to fight over money for the Deutschlandticket, subscribers are very happy with the offer. Three quarters want to stay there permanently. In the balance sheet for the first year, the VDV assumes that more than half of the users take the bus or train more often than before.
A good three quarters of Deutschlandticket users plan to stay with the tariff permanently. As the Association of Transport Companies (VDV) announced on the occasion of the annual review of the Deutschlandticket, 76 percent of those surveyed stated this intention. 95 percent are generally satisfied with the offer.
The survey, which is carried out regularly on a monthly basis, also shows a change in the use of local transport due to the ticket. 53 percent of owners use local transport more often than before, and 16 percent use the ticket to travel across network boundaries. They also used the car less often – according to the VDV, the decline was 16 percent. According to VDV calculations, a total of 25 percent of trips with the Deutschlandticket would not have been made without this offer.
Overall, the subscribers are rather young: 35 percent are between 14 and 29 years old. At 50 percent each, the ownership rate is balanced between low earners and high earners. The Germany ticket currently costs 49 euros per month. It enables all subscribers nationwide to use local public transport.
Price increases are not off the table
A year after the introduction of the Deutschlandticket, the VDV drew a positive conclusion; North Rhine-Westphalia’s Green Transport Minister Oliver Krischer spoke of a “revolution” and a “successful model”. In the first year, an average of 11.2 million people had a Germany ticket every month. The goal is to reach 15 million tickets by the end of this year.
The ticket must continue to be “fully and reliably financed” in the future in order to ensure security and reliability, said VDV President Ingo Wortmann. The basic financing is secured: the federal and state governments each pledged 1.5 billion euros annually to finance the loss of transport companies associated with the ticket. However, there is a dispute about the assumption of costs, which may go beyond this. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing had rejected a blanket assumption of additional costs and called for a drop in funds before any further debate.
Price increases in the coming year cannot be ruled out. The VDV also explained that a concrete discussion about this would be premature. All of this depends on the subsidies from the federal and state governments as well as the income from the ticket over the course of this year. The price for 2025 will not be decided until the second half of the year.