Where and how can I buy the ticket?
The ticket will be valid from May 1st and can already be bought in many places. It comes as a digital subscription that can be canceled on a monthly basis. It is usually not available from machines or from the driver. If you want to complete it, you have to go through the websites or smartphone apps of Deutsche Bahn or the regional public transport operator, for example. Service providers such as Hansecom or Mobility Inside also offer their own apps. During checks, the subscription can then be proven by mobile phone ticket or plastic card with built-in chip; you must also be able to prove with your identity card that you are actually the ticket holder. The Deutschlandticket cannot be transferred to other people.
Can you also buy the 49-euro ticket if you don’t have a smartphone?
Yes. In principle, you should also be able to take out the subscription in person, for example in the sales outlets of the transport companies such as in the Customer centers in the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR). The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) warn that this could significantly increase waiting times. In any case, the companies are trying to lure as many customers as possible to the mobile phone ticket: the BVG promise everyone who decides to use the Deutschlandticket as a mobile phone ticket a one-time 25-euro voucher for their mobility platform Jelbi. Among other things, rental bikes, e-scooters and car-sharing cars can be rented from them. And: Some companies and associations, for example the Munich Transport Company (MVG) and the Augsburg Transport Association (AVV), cannot (yet) issue chip cards for technical reasons; customers will receive the tickets in paper form from them on an interim basis.
Which means of transport can I use with the ticket?
Like the nine-euro ticket in summer 2022, the Deutschlandticket is valid on all local and regional buses and trains. Excluded are ICE, IC and EC trains as well as night trains, private coaches and long-distance buses and the trains of the provider Flixtrain. As a rule, the ticket is not valid on ships either – unless it is a matter of connections that are part of local public transport, such as the Elbe ferries in Hamburg.
For which period is the 49-euro ticket valid?
The Deutschlandticket is always valid for the respective calendar month. For example, if you only decide to buy the ticket on May 15th, you have to pay the full 49 euros for the period up to May 31st. Basically, the Deutschlandticket is intended as a subscription – if you don’t cancel, you will automatically receive it for the next month. However, the ticket can always be canceled at the end of each month, but not quite spontaneously: the last cancellation date is always the 10th of a month.
What about existing subscriptions?
This differs from union to union. In principle, the 49-euro ticket is an additional subscription and does not automatically replace existing offers from transport companies and associations. Existing subscription customers should therefore inform themselves beforehand. Switching can be worthwhile, especially for commuters: With the Deutschlandticket, they often only pay a fraction of what they previously had to pay for their subscription.
Are there any disadvantages?
Yes. Many of the previous regional local transport subscriptions often include additional offers – for example, taking another person with you at the weekend or children up to the age of 14 in general. With the Deutschlandticket, only children under the age of six travel free of charge. In addition, many weekly or monthly tickets are also transferable, i.e. they can be used by several people. The Deutschlandticket does not have all of this, but it does have one major advantage: It is valid nationwide, while the validity of a regional ticket usually ends at the borders of the respective association. The industry association VDV expects 5.6 million new customers for the Deutschlandticket. According to the forecast, eleven million existing subscription customers will switch to the Deutschlandticket.
Will the price of 49 euros increase in the future?
It can be assumed. The federal and state governments have to inject a lot of money to compensate for the reduced income of the transport companies caused by the new ticket. That is why it has already been announced that the ticket price of 49 euros will only be fixed for the first two years, after which it will be “dynamised”, i.e. increased in the course of general inflation. Whether this happens as early as the end of 2024 or in the spring of 2025 remains to be seen.
What applies to students, pupils and pensioners?
One promise of the Deutschlandticket is to clear up the tariff confusion of the numerous associations in Germany. This promise is kept for most “normal” commuters. For everyone else, however, it remains complicated: because there are no nationwide rules for students, schoolchildren, pensioners and people who receive citizen income. Some federal states finance discounted tickets for some of these groups, for example at a price of 29 euros, other states do not do this and leave it at the discounts that municipalities or transport associations provide for certain groups anyway. The vast majority of these discounted tickets are only valid regionally.
And what about taking a bike with you?
It looks similarly complicated: there is no uniform nationwide regulation; Rather, the respective provisions in the respective associations and federal states apply. In Bavaria, for example, a bicycle ticket must be purchased within the Munich transport association; If, on the other hand, you are traveling in the network of the Südwestbayernbahn east of the state capital, you can take your bicycle with you free of charge. Bavaria wants to offer a bicycle ticket for just one euro per day from autumn At least that’s what Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has announced. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) has recently been offering a bicycle ticket for an additional EUR 29 per month to match the Deutschlandticket – but this is only valid in the VRR area.