From June 9th, DB customers will no longer receive their BahnCard 25 or 50 as a plastic card, but will have to use it digitally. This is only possible with a customer account in the app – which can lead to various problems.
Millions of rail travelers will have to prepare for a change from the middle of the year: from June 9th, the popular BahnCard will only be available in digital form, as Deutsche Bahn wrote to its customers this week. The company had already announced the end of the plastic card in December – but without the start of validity. This is now fixed.
Over five million BahnCards in circulation
BahnCards 25 and 50 purchased from June 9th will no longer be sent as plastic cards. Existing cards can still be used until the expiry date printed on them, but if they are lost, replacement cards will no longer be issued. Instead, customers should load the product into the “DB Navigator” app with their bahn.de customer account and use it on their smartphone.
With the BahnCard, which is always valid for one year, passengers receive a discount on their tickets. Holders of the BahnCard 25 get 25 percent off the purchase price – regardless of the variant. With the Bahncard 50 you even get a 50 percent discount, but only on the Flexticket and not on saver prices. The discount is also 25 percent. Unlimited rail travel at a flat rate is possible with the Bahncard 100, which is also issued as a card.
According to Deutsche Bahn, there were more than 5.1 million existing BahnCards in 2022. Of these, the BahnCard 25 made up the vast majority (almost 3.8 million). This was followed by the BahnCard 50 with 1.3 million and the frequent traveler BahnCard 100 with around 46,400. “The BahnCard is a very popular product among passengers,” says Melanie Schliebener from the local transport arbitration board in an interview tagesschau.de. If you travel more than three or four times a year, the BahnCard 25 is usually worth it. “And people know that too.”
“Bahn simply wants to save costs”
According to DB information, 60 percent of rail travelers already use the BahnCard in digital form in the app. In general, 84 percent of all tickets in long-distance transport are now purchased digitally via bahn.de or the “DB Navigator” – and the trend is rising sharply, as the company reports. Ten years ago it was 51 percent. The company also justifies the fact that the BahnCard will soon only be usable digitally with this increasing digitalization.
Deutsche Bahn also refers to environmental protection: “As a climate-friendly means of transport, Deutsche Bahn sees itself as having a special responsibility to act in times of climate change,” writes the DB Group. A spokeswoman told Deutsche Bahn that the company would save 30 tons of plastic per year by simply dispensing with analogue cards tagesschau.de.
Consumer advocate Schliebener believes the plastic waste argument is fake: “It’s not a law of nature that the BahnCard has to be printed on plastic.” In addition, there is certainly more potential for environmental protection in other places – for example with coffee cups on trains. “The railway simply wants to save costs with the digital BahnCard and you can say that,” says Schliebener.
Many people excluded?
In addition, the railway justifies the decision by saying that BahnCard holders will be able to make adjustments “conveniently on their own” in the future. “And once uploaded to the DB Navigator app, the digital BahnCard is always with you everywhere and can no longer be lost,” says the DB spokeswoman.
“There are usually relatively few adjustments because you cannot adjust the BahnCard at all. You can subscribe to it or cancel it,” counters Schliebener. Otherwise, everyone knows the advantages of digitalization. “The problem, which you have to face, is that there are many people who are excluded as a result.” For them it is a handicap.
As an example, Schliebener, who advises passengers in North Rhine-Westphalia in disputes with transport companies, cites parents whose children do not have a smartphone: “Many children have the cheaper Youth BahnCard 25 so that they can travel alone to grandparents or something like that.” In addition, there are consumers who do not have digital access or simply do not want it. “I would have liked to have been able to choose whether you wanted the BahnCard analogue or digital.”
Continues to be an analogue replacement document
64 percent of citizens find it “rather bad or very bad” if they can only book train tickets via the Internet or apps. This was recently the result of a survey by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) among 1,000 respondents over the age of 16. Older people are particularly critical of pure online sales. 75 percent of people over 50 think this is bad. But even among younger 18 to 29-year-olds, almost every second respondent is critical of purely online sales.
“We know that some of our customers do not want to do without analogue alternatives,” says the railway spokeswoman. If desired, a paper printout of your ticket is still available at the travel center. This will soon also apply to the BahnCard. “Even when BahnCards 25 and 50 are converted to digital products, we will recognize an analogue replacement document – whether as a PDF document in digital form or as a paper printout – on the train.”
Consumer advocates welcome this, but still have limitations. “The alternative valid paper printout must also be accessible to people without a digital customer account, for example by being handed out in the travel center. Free of charge, of course,” says vzbv boss Ramona Pop. Schliebener also demands: “The channels must be clear: Where and how do I get the form?”
Problems with an empty battery, for example
The basic problem of digital access remains, says Schliebener. “Many people don’t necessarily want their data – for example their email address – to be recorded.” In fact, from June onwards, purchasing a BahnCard, which can only be done in person, will only be possible with a customer account on bahn.de. This requires you to provide a valid email address. For the actual purpose of the BahnCard, namely the use of the discount, this is actually not necessary at all, criticizes Schliebener. “That bothers a lot of people.”
Another difficulty is the smartphone, on which the digital BahnCard has to be displayed. “The passenger has the responsibility to always have their cell phone charged, functional and up to date,” says Schliebener. As a dispute mediator, she knows such cases. “We keep having problems with people not loading the Deutschlandticket correctly.” Not everyone can use their smartphone well. “This becomes a hurdle to the detriment of passengers.”
If rail travelers cannot show their BahnCard when checking tickets, they will have to pay double the fare on the train. A refund is possible with the card and the original and subsequently redeemed ticket – but minus a processing fee and only with 14 days’ notice at the DB travel center.