Last summer, the 9-euro ticket was a great financial relief for day trippers and commuters. The successor, the Deutschlandticket, will start in May – designed for the long term, intended as a subscription for millions of people, initially for 49 per month. Here, too, a standard price applies to all local and regional bus and train journeys throughout Germany. It is still unclear how many people will permanently use buses and trains instead of the car with the new monthly pass. However, those who will benefit from the new offer can already be identified. An overview:
For many commuters who already use buses and trains, the Deutschlandticket is likely to be the ticket of choice in the future. So far, monthly tickets quickly cost a multiple of the 49-euro ticket – especially if the place of work is not in the place of residence or the employer does not contribute to the costs; even then, the monthly ticket price is usually significantly higher.
With the job ticket option for the Deutschlandticket, it could even be cheaper than 49 euros for many: If the employer bears at least 25 percent of the costs, the federal and state governments add another 5 percent. For some commuters, the subscription could only cost 34.30 euros.
Nevertheless, the cheapest offer does not have to be the right one for everyone. The 49-euro subscription does not offer any options to take other people with you free of charge. In addition, it is personal and non-transferrable. Previous monthly tickets can offer advantages at this point.
The 9-euro ticket, limited to three months, was used by countless day-trippers last summer. For many, the monthly ticket paid off if they only wanted to go for a stroll to the next town or go hiking in nature for one day. Accordingly, many trains and stations were full on the weekends.
It is still unclear how much excursion traffic the 49-euro ticket will trigger. In a survey by the opinion research institute Yougov for the news agency DPA, 66 percent of those who have already booked the subscription stated that they were also planning leisure trips with it. 54 percent also want to use the ticket to go to work, university or school. Because multiple answers were possible, it is not possible to say which reason was decisive for the purchase.
A trip with the Deutschlandticket is only financially worthwhile for longer distances, trips with overnight stays or several tours per month. For day trips with local transport, there is the slightly cheaper Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket, which is valid nationwide for one day for 44 euros. Each additional passenger is only charged an additional seven euros. Depending on the size of the group, the Deutschlandticket is only effective when an overnight stay is planned – after all, it is still valid the next day.
A major criticism of both the 9-euro ticket and its successor was and is that although it makes public transport cheaper, it in no way improves the offer. Especially in rural areas, many people feel dependent on a car because the connection to buses and trains is often poor. This is also shown by the Yougov survey: 28 percent of those surveyed who do not want to buy the Deutschlandticket justified their decision by saying that the public transport service in their region is not good.
The Deutschlandticket is particularly interesting for city dwellers and people who live in the so-called commuter belts around these cities. Similar to the 9-euro ticket, the Deutschlandticket could be an incentive to take a closer look at the existing public transport offering.
The Deutschlandticket is not valid on long-distance transport, i.e. not on ICE and IC trains or on the night trains of different providers. The subscription is also not valid for Flix trains and buses. But of course it can be used to get to a train station with local and regional transport in order to get on an ICE train there.
But then the following applies: don’t miss the boat. Because if you miss an ICE that you have booked with the Deutschlandticket due to a delay in regional transport, you are not entitled to compensation or cancellation of the train connection. In this case, the customers would have concluded two transport contracts, which would be considered separately in terms of passenger law, according to Deutsche Bahn.
