They were announced for a long time, now they should finally go on sale officially: the
Monthly tickets for 9 euros
for local public transport and the regional offers of Deutsche Bahn. The discounted tickets should be available from next Monday, May 23, provided the Bundestag and Bundesrat approve the project this week.
The ticket should then be available via the DB Navigator app and all other digital rail channels, as the group announced on Sunday. “It will also be available at around 5,500 Deutsche Bahn ticket machines and in over 400 DB travel centers in train stations,” it said.
9-euro ticket: federal and state governments disagree about funding
However, the project of the traffic light coalition must first be approved by the Bundestag on Thursday and the Bundesrat one day later. There is still a heated argument about the financing. The federal government is financing the project by transferring 2.5 billion euros to the federal states to compensate for the loss of income. However, that is not enough for them. The federal states want the federal government to significantly increase the regionalization funds – this is money that the federal government makes available to the federal states every year to finance local rail passenger transport.
“If the federal government believes that it can be applauded on the back of the federal states for a three-month consolation and that others should pay the bill, then it has made a huge mistake,” criticized Bavaria’s Minister of Transport Christian Bernreiter (CSU). If the federal government does not fully compensate for the costs of the ticket and does not significantly increase the regionalization funds, it will run into a wall in the Bundesrat. “Under the current conditions, I do not see that Bavaria can approve the law in the Bundesrat.”
“If the ticket flips, the Minister of Transport has to answer for it”
The chairwoman of the conference of transport ministers, Bremen’s Senator Maike Schaefer (Greens), emphasized on Sunday that the federal states had repeatedly called for an increase in funding for public transport. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) should have known after the Transport Ministers’ Conference in early May at the latest that the approval of the federal states is shaky. “If the 9-euro ticket, to which the citizens of Germany have high expectations, is now overturned, the Federal Minister of Transport will have to take responsibility,” said Schaefer.
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Transport, Winfried Hermann, also emphasized that if the federal government were not willing to increase regionalization funds, the overall package of fuel discounts and 9-euro tickets could fail in the Bundesrat. An informal mediation process could still prevent the impending blockade, said the Green politician.
What is the 9 euro ticket?
In June, July and August, the special tickets are intended to enable travel in local and regional transport throughout Germany – for 9 euros a month and thus much less than with normal monthly tickets. This is part of the relief package with which the traffic light coalition is reacting to the high energy prices. At the same time, it should be a taster offer to win more customers for buses and trains in the long term.
What if I already have a monthly ticket?
The 9-euro ticket is also worthwhile for people who already have a ticket subscription. Because: Your tickets should be able to be charged automatically, like the
Consumer Center
explained. They should then receive a credit note or a refund of the difference between their subscription price and the 9-euro ticket.
In addition, many regional train providers are accommodating their customers by lifting time restrictions on the validity of tickets during the three summer months.
When and where should the 9 euro ticket be valid?
According to Deutsche Bahn, the 9-euro ticket will always be valid from the first to the last day of the respective calendar month. So if you only access it in the middle of the month, you can only drive around with it for the remaining half of the month. From the start of sales on May 23rd, it should be possible to buy tickets for all three months at the same time.
The tickets are to be valid for all local and regional transport throughout Germany, which means that regular buses, trams, underground and S-Bahn trains as well as regional (express) trains are included. Only the long-distance traffic with ICE, IC and EC is not included in the saver price.
How strong will the demand be?
Probably very high. The Westfalentarif GmbH, for example, assumes this and speaks of an unprecedented campaign. Like the other local transport companies, the Rhein-Sieg transport association (VRS) does not want to make an exact forecast. “However, we have compared the timetable information requests already made for the months of June to August 2022 with the queries for the same months from 2021 and the value is already five times higher,” said a spokesman. This does not mean that everyone who uses the electronic timetable information will buy a 9-euro ticket. However, the queries could be an indicator of interest.
According to a survey by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR), every second adult in the tariff area who does not yet have a subscription wants to use local public transport with the 9-euro ticket. “For the network area, this means that between 2.5 and three million people will potentially buy the 9-euro ticket,” said a spokesman. It could get correspondingly full on the regional trains in the summer months.
Will additional trains and staff be deployed?
According to the transport company, this will only be possible on a few routes. “We are currently examining the possibilities of increasing capacity on selected routes in close cooperation with the railway companies,” said a spokeswoman for the Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (NWL), adding: “Additional vehicles and staff are not available; In addition, the availability of train paths is extremely limited.