Deutsche Bahn forecast: One in five could use the Deutschlandticket

The demand is enormous: in the first three days of advance sales, 250,000 Germany tickets were purchased from Deutsche Bahn alone. The company expects that every fifth person will use the ticket in the future.

The Deutschlandticket for local and regional transport, which is valid from May, is already extremely popular. In the first three days of advance sales, 250,000 tickets were sold by Deutsche Bahn alone.

“On Monday we had twice as many hits as we normally do on our website,” said Evelyn Palla, head of DB regional traffic, to “Bild am Sonntag”. The train is one of many transport companies where the ticket is available. It can also be obtained via the Deutschlandticket app.

Perspectively up to 17 million users

The head of regional transport assumes that demand for the ticket, which is valid throughout Germany, will remain high in the future. “We expect that around six million people nationwide will take out a subscription for local transport with the Deutschlandticket for the first time.”

In addition, around eleven million passengers who are already using a subscription are expected to switch to the new service. “That’s a total of 17 million users.” The regular ticket costs 49 euros. Some federal states are planning cheaper tariffs for the ticket, which is only available with a monthly subscription – for schoolchildren or people with a particularly low income, for example.

“You can only ask for understanding”

In view of delays and construction sites, however, train drivers will have to be patient. The situation is so dramatic that there is no alternative to a general renovation of the network, said the Federal Government Commissioner for Rail Transport, Secretary of State for Transport Michael Theurer.

One can only ask for understanding from the customers of the railways and also ask for forgiveness. He recommends that Deutsche Bahn communicate openly and honestly.

Only 65 percent of long-distance trains are on time

In the long-distance transport of Deutsche Bahn, the punctuality rate last year was 65.2 percent and thus ten percentage points below the previous year’s level. The reasons given by the railways were the outdated and scarce infrastructure, many construction sites and a rapidly growing volume of traffic.

When it comes to punctuality, things are looking better in regional and local transport. According to Deutsche Bahn, 92.6 percent of regional and S-Bahn trains were on time in March.

“As the federal government, we have articulated the expectations of management that punctuality must improve noticeably,” said the railway officer. Bahn boss Richard Lutz refers to the network, which has to be described as completely overloaded. “Of course, the public sector is also responsible for the network and we are now doing our job,” assured Theurer.