A nationwide 49-euro monthly ticket for buses and trains in local and regional transport will be available for millions of passengers in the coming year. The federal and state governments agreed on open financing issues for local public transport, as the German Press Agency learned from government circles on Wednesday. The “Spiegel” reported first.
A digital, Germany-wide valid “Deutschlandticket” for local public transport is planned at an introductory price of 49 euros per month with a monthly subscription, as stated in a resolution proposed by the Chancellery. The ticket should be introduced as soon as possible. Whether a start at the beginning of the year will work is an open question. The price could increase over time.
The agreement on financial issues provides that the federal and state governments will share the costs for the 49-euro ticket, totaling three billion euros a year.
The federal states had made an increase in the so-called regionalization funds from this year on condition that they co-finance a 49-euro ticket. Before the consultations with the federal states, the federal government had offered to increase these funds. The federal states use the regionalization funds to order train and bus connections from the transport companies.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing rated the agreement as historic. “Attractive, digital, simple: Now the way is clear for the largest public transport tariff reform in Germany,” said the FDP politician on Wednesday: “It has never been so easy for people in our country to use buses and trains. We are rethinking mobility and protecting the climate with attractive offers.”
Wissing is aiming for January 1st as the start date
In mid-October, the federal and state transport ministers agreed in principle on a 49-euro ticket as the successor to the 9-euro ticket from the summer. Financial questions were still open. According to Wissing, the ticket should be introduced as soon as possible. The aim is to start at the turn of the year, said Wissing on Wednesday in Berlin. The federal and state governments had agreed on financial issues. Preparatory work for the ticket had been done, but questions still had to be answered.
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Transport, Winfried Hermann, doubted that the 49-euro ticket would come in January. The Greens politician told the partner newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft (NBR) that it might not come until March 1st or April 1st. The implementation is complex. The state share of 1.5 billion euros must be anchored in the budgets of the states. In the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Hermann also pointed out that machines would have to be converted, tariff systems adjusted and committee decisions made.
The 9-euro ticket, which has been bought millions of times, made it possible to travel by bus and train for one month in June, July and August. The transport ministers are planning an introductory phase of two years for the 49-euro successor. From the second year, the ticket could be expensive. A “dynamisation” in the form of automatic inflation compensation is planned.
