FAQ
Status: 01/28/2023 05:41 am
The 49-euro ticket is scheduled to start on May 1st and is valid for local and regional transport. However, not all details have been clarified yet. What is known – and what is not yet.
How is the ticket supposed to work?
On May 1st, the “Deutschlandticket” is to start as a monthly cancellable subscription for 49 euros. It will apply nationwide to buses and trains in local and regional transport. The ticket will be sold earlier, namely from April 3rd.
The transport of bicycles, dogs and children could be regulated differently depending on the region.
Individual federal states are also planning to offer the 49-euro ticket for low earners or young people at a lower price, such as Bremen, Hesse or Saarland. Nationwide, the Paritätische Gesamtverband and the Federal Association of Consumer Centers, among others, had called for a social tariff, since poor people would not benefit from the planned “Germany ticket”.
Should the ticket also be available on paper?
According to information from the ARD Capital Studios give a solution, but details are not known. But there should definitely be a digital ticket.
According to the plans of Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing, the ticket was originally only to be sold digitally. But there was criticism of this, for example from the transport companies: Not all are already able to offer purely digital tickets.
The federal states also argued that not everyone is digitally fit or has a smartphone to be able to buy a paperless ticket. These people would then be excluded.
Will there also be a job ticket?
Yes, the “Deutschlandticket” will also be available as a job ticket. The federal and state governments agreed that companies can buy the ticket five percent cheaper if they pass it on to their employees with a discount of at least 25 percent.
Can anything still go wrong?
The legal framework has not yet been finally clarified. In order for the 49-euro ticket to come safely, the EU Commission must agree – it is still examining it.
Also, some laws need to be changed for the ticket, which requires the approval of the Federal Council. According to earlier information, he should decide on this next Tuesday.
Who pays for all this?
The financial details are not yet known. One thing is clear: the ticket will be more expensive than before for the countries responsible for local transport. Therefore, according to earlier information, the federal government wants to take over half of these additional costs in the first year.
For the years that followed, however, there was still no regulation. Likewise, there has been no regulation as to how the income from the 49-euro ticket should be distributed between the various transport companies.
In addition, the federal government has increased its subsidies for local transport, the so-called regionalization funds, for the federal states and is paying them one billion euros more. However, Bremen had already demanded another 1.5 billion euros more so that the federal states did not miss their climate targets in traffic.
Buses and trains in Germany are chronically lacking money. According to industry information, ticket sales only cover about half of the costs, the rest is covered by the public purse.