media report
Nationwide validity from June 1: Plans for a nine-euro ticket are becoming more concrete
Bus and train at Essen main station: soon usable with the nine-euro ticket?
© Jochen Tack / Picture Alliance
Travel through Germany for less than 30 cents a day: According to a media report, the planned nine-euro ticket for bus and train is to be launched on June 1st – and will be valid nationwide.
The nine-euro ticket planned by the federal government for local public transport (ÖPNV) is apparently taking concrete shape. The editorial network Germany (RND) reports under the heading “Commuter relief becomes low-budget holiday ticket”, citing members of the Bundestag Transport Committee, that many controversial issues have already been cleared up.
Plans for a nine-euro ticket are becoming more concrete
The plans therefore envisage:
- Start date: The experiment, limited to three months, is scheduled to start on June 1st and end on August 31st. The period would thus include a large part of the summer holidays in the federal states.
- Price: It was clear from the outset that the ticket would cost nine euros per month, so a total of 27 euros for 92 days – bus and train travel would not even cost 30 cents a day.
- Validity: The offer should apply to all means of public transport, including regional trains and regional express trains, S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains, trams, regular buses and in some places (e.g. in Hamburg) also on ferries. Excluded are long-distance trains such as ICEs, Intercity trains, the Flixtrain, but also long-distance buses. Apparently, everything boils down to a nationwide validity of the nine-euro ticket. “Otherwise, commuters who travel across the borders of federal states and tariff associations are disadvantaged,” said SPD traffic expert Martin Kröber to the RND. Inexpensive journeys through the entire federal territory would then be possible (e.g. from Munich to Westerland on Sylt in a good 15 hours).
- Availability: The nine-euro ticket is expected to be available via the DB Navigator app and at the ticket counter, but not from machines.
- Subscriber policy: According to the plans, anyone who already has a monthly ticket should under no circumstances pay more than nine euros per month. According to the report, the individual transport companies should clarify exactly how the difference is paid out. And students with a semester ticket should also benefit from the offer.
The federal government is planning a total of 2.5 billion euros for the discount campaign, but additional costs should also be covered if necessary.
The Transport Committee Chairwoman Nyke Slawik (Greens) expects the nine-euro campaign to send out a signal. According to her own statements, she sees the offer as a preliminary stage for permanent relief: “We have to accompany this experiment well and then find ways to make available public transport tickets that are valid and affordable throughout Germany even after the three months have expired,” said Slawik of the AFP news agency .
Before that happens, however, the plans still have to be formulated – because nothing is official yet. According to RND, the Bundestag is to vote on the draft law on May 18th or 19th, and then the Bundesrat on May 20th. At the request of the DPA news agency, the Federal Ministry of Transport stated that it was very interested in implementing the offer as quickly as possible. “Coordination with the countries and the industry to clarify the open questions is ongoing.”
Sources: Editorial network Germanynews agencies AFP and DPA