“We should be able to do that.”
Weil hopes for an agreement on Deutschlandticket
November 4, 2023, 8:07 a.m
The introduction of the Deutschlandticket is considered a success. But there is a dispute between the federal and state governments about future financing. Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Weil is nevertheless optimistic and has a concrete proposal for the coming year.
Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil is optimistic that the federal and state governments will come to an agreement on the further financing of the Deutschlandticket. “We would have to reach an agreement for 2024. It would be enough to transfer the remaining funds into next year,” said the SPD politician when asked by the German Press Agency in Hanover.
The question of financing will be discussed at the Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK) on Monday between the 16 heads of government of the federal states and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The transport companies association had presented a financial forecast. Accordingly, the losses for the industry this year due to the introduction of the ticket are only expected to be 2.3 billion euros in May, and for the whole of 2024 they will be 4.1 billion euros. With a total of six billion euros in public subsidies for 2023 and 2024, the bottom line would be a financing gap of 400 million euros.
For the years from 2025, Weil expects the signal that the federal and state governments will continue to share half of the additional costs for the Deutschlandticket.
The 49 euro ticket has been available in Germany since May. Customers can use local and regional transport nationwide in a subscription model. While the basic funding between the federal and state governments has been clarified for the coming years, the dispute is primarily about the additional costs incurred by transport companies. This year, the federal and state governments each covered half of this. There is still no regulation for next year.