At the start of the Deutschlandticket, the demand is greater than expected. Deutsche Bahn announced that there were sometimes disruptions in the booking system on its website and the Navigator app due to the large number of prospective buyers.
The Deutsche Bahn website was overloaded at the start of the Deutschlandticket. “At the moment, too many users are accessing our booking system at the same time,” said the page where passengers can usually buy the new offer. The company spoke of delays due to high demand.
The group placed a note both on the bahn.de website and in the DB Navigator app, stating: “There may currently be disruptions when booking the Germany ticket due to the high demand. Please try it in this case again at a later date.”
Deutsche Bahn informed customers on its website about disruptions due to the high demand.
Travel nationwide on local public transport for 49 euros
The new ticket can be used from today and entitles you to travel on local public transport throughout Germany for a purchase price of 49 euros per month. It is therefore often referred to as a 49-euro ticket. It is available as a monthly subscription. In addition to the Deutsche Bahn, many other transport companies also sell the ticket, including numerous transport associations.
According to a projection by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), well over three million people have already bought their tickets for May. According to the association, this includes 750,000 people who did not previously have a local transport subscription. The VDV and Deutsche Bahn assume that 17 million people will buy the ticket in the future.
It is issued as a mobile phone ticket or chip card. With a transitional period until the end of the year, it can also be purchased as a paper ticket with a QR code. Various associations had pushed for a paper ticket version, for example to make access easier for senior citizens.
Scholz wishes “safe journey”
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz wished “have a good trip with the Deutschlandticket starting today” on Twitter. The SPD politician wrote that he was happy about the great interest. The offer makes public transport attractive and helps to achieve climate goals.
The transport companies are not expecting suddenly overcrowded trains in May. Unlike the 9-euro ticket last summer, which is considered the predecessor, the 49-euro ticket is designed to last. “We assume that we will have a noticeable increase in demand with the Deutschlandticket,” said Evelyn Palla, who is responsible for regional transport on the Deutsche Bahn board of directors, the German Press Agency. “But that will not happen all of a sudden on May 1st.” The demand for the Deutschlandticket will now “build up continuously over the next few months”.
Wissing demands speed at the digitalization
Transport Minister Volker Wissing believes that the difficulties experienced by some passengers when ordering and sending the new Deutschlandticket show deficits in digitization. “These are problems that are related to the fact that we do not have sufficient digitization in sales,” said the FDP politician.
At the same time, he emphasized that these difficulties were by no means universal. It is important to him “that we don’t just continue to write these outdated structures into the future and talk ourselves into niceties, along the lines of ‘Yes, the paper ticket has proven itself so well, that’s wonderful’,” said Wissing. “We’re just seeing the problems it’s causing.”