Germany Ticket is well-received: Three-quarters of a million new subscriptions

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing speaks of "the greatest tariff revolution in public transport" and a real progress for Germany—the upcoming Deutschland-Ticket lowers the access barriers for climate-friendly public transport and paves the way for more modern, digitalized, and interconnected public mobility.

"This will be a gain in freedom for many people, to whom we offer new possibilities to be mobile with the Deutschland-Ticket—whether in everyday life, leisure, or even on vacation. Together with the federal states and the industry, we have created an offer in a short time that will sustainably strengthen public transport. The Deutschland-Ticket has the potential to be a real game-changer,” asserts Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing.

From May 1, passionate as well as new public transport users can use buses and trains in local transport everywhere and without restrictions for a price of 49 euros per month. Since the start of pre-sales on April 3, around 750,000 new Deutschland-Ticket subscriptions have already been sold, according to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV).

“Pre-sales have started well from the industry's perspective. But this is only the first step to successfully establish the Deutschland-Ticket on the market in the long term. The preparatory work, the necessary internal and sales adjustments, and the significantly increased customer management of the last few weeks have been an enormous effort for us. But it was worth it: We are prepared, May 1 and thus the start of the Deutschland-Ticket can come. We are grateful to the federal and state governments that they fully compensate for the revenue shortfalls associated with the ticket introduction this year. Financial security is of immense importance to the industry in the future as well,” says VDV President, Ingo Wortmann.

The industry association expects the number to increase to a total of 5 to 6 million new Deutschland-Ticket subscribers in the coming weeks and months, and that around 11 million regular customers will switch from their current subscriptions to the cheaper and nationwide usable ticket variant.

Job-Ticket: VDV sees especially great potential

The public transport industry sees great opportunities especially in the even cheaper job-ticket variant of the 49-euro subscription to permanently attract many companies and their employees—with the employer's subsidy, subscribers pay only 34.30 euros for the nationwide public transport flat rate.

“The Deutschland-Ticket is a revolution for public transport and offers enormous potential, especially for the job ticket sector. Already today, job tickets are among the best-selling public transport subscriptions. Including state employees, around 500,000 people in the RMV have a public transport flat rate through their employer, and nationwide several million passengers are mobile in this way. In the competition for the best talents, the Deutschland-Ticket can be a decisive argument for employers—therefore it is quite conceivable that twice or three times as many people will be using a job ticket in the future,” says Prof. Knut Ringat, VDV Vice President.

Digitalization boost

The VDV also expects the introduction to provide a digitalization boost in the industry, as digital sales channels are now being established for the first time, especially among smaller transport companies and associations.

For Oliver Krischer, Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and Chairman of the Transport Ministers' Conference, the work on the public transport reform project is not finished with the introduction of the Deutschland-Ticket. Krischer wants to “achieve further standardization for additional tickets and to promptly present a proposal in the interests of students for a nationwide uniform solidarity model.”

Website bundles all info on the D-Ticket

For all those interested, the website https://www.d-ticket.info/ offers detailed and up-to-date information about the Deutschland-Ticket. With a postal code finder, they get an overview at a click of the transport companies and associations that offer the Deutschland-Ticket locally.

Since the offer was launched in mid-April, nearly 60,000 potential new customers have already been referred to local companies and associations. According to VDV, the website is continuously being expanded and updated.