The transport ministers of the federal states are calling on the federal government to take action on financing issues with the Deutschlandticket. This emerges from a resolution paper from the Transport Ministers’ Conference in Münster, which was available to the German Press Agency.
The paper states that a transfer of funds not used in 2023 to 2024, agreed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the states in November, is a mandatory requirement for the price of 49 euros per month to remain stable this year. The federal government should immediately make the necessary changes to the Regionalization Act. The so-called extra-annuality of the funds should be extended to the period 2023 to 2025.
In addition, according to the paper, the transport ministers want to set a ticket price for 2025 “in good time” in the second half of the year – based on the development and forecasts of sales figures, the cost development and thus the need for subsidies. A special transport ministers’ conference is planned, as it was said in state circles.
Ticket price could increase
It is possible that the ticket price will increase from 2025. The paper goes on to say that “mechanisms for transparent pricing” need to be developed for the following years.
The Deutschlandticket, currently 49 euros per month, can be used nationwide on local and regional transport since May 1, 2023. A good eleven million tickets were recently sold every month. The money from the federal and state governments is needed to compensate for loss of income for transport companies due to cheaper tickets compared to previous offers. According to the Regionalization Act, the federal government will pay 1.5 billion euros a year until 2025 – as will the states as a whole. Over the past few months there has been a lot of hard debate over how to distribute the costs.
The states are also insisting on progress on a planned “expansion and modernization pact” for public transport and are expecting proposals from the federal government, as can be seen from another resolution paper. A proposal from Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) for an “infrastructure fund” worth billions in which financial resources for rail, roads and waterways would be pooled for several years was met with tailwind from the states.
