The nine-euro ticket is now in its second month. It has already been sold 21 million times in Germany, some have taken it all the way to Sylt, but most have taken it on a weekend trip or just to work. And even if the trains are overflowing in many places – after a month’s nine-euro ticket everyone says: It’s a complete success. Many would like the offer to continue beyond August.
Then it comes as a surprise what some transport companies report: In June, thousands of people stocked up on often much more expensive monthly tickets. Last month, 1,800 people bought a monthly pass from Großraum-Verkehr-Hannover (GVH), and 5,000 from Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG). Why should you do that when you can get everywhere for nine euros?
“Of course it’s surprising when you see these numbers,” says Tolga Otkun, spokesman for the GVH. However, 1,500 of the 1,800 monthly tickets sold had to be excluded. They were bought by young people who have been able to use local public transport in Hanover for 15 euros a month for years. But they also pay six euros more per month than necessary. And then there are still 300 people who bought one of the monthly tickets, which cost up to 115 euros in Hanover. “One wonders why they are doing this. No one can really have missed the fact that the nine-euro ticket exists,” says Otkun.
BVG is also thinking about the reasons. In any case, press officer Nils Kremmin does not believe that anyone will accidentally spend too much money on a monthly ticket. “They seem to be buying it very consciously. Maybe also because monthly tickets can do more than the nine-euro ticket,” he says. For example, with a monthly ticket for 86 euros, you can take your dog with you for free – drivers with the nine-euro ticket have to pay three euros each time, according to Kremmin. However, in order to recoup the 77 euro difference, you have to take the dog with you at least 26 times a month. It is doubtful whether commuting dogs are the reason for the 5000 monthly tickets.
So there is also the question of why the transport companies allow so many people to buy a monthly ticket that they may not even need. A subscription trap, so to speak.
“In order to fall into a trap, you have to have set one, and we didn’t have that,” Otkun from the GVH protests. “And besides, we don’t let the customer die stupid either.” At the counters, for example, the monthly ticket doesn’t sell at all because the employees there would recommend the nine-euro ticket. There are notices on the machines and advertising on the website. And if someone actually accidentally buys a much more expensive monthly ticket, they would be accommodating and refund the money, says Otkun.
The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) takes a different approach. Since June it has not been possible to buy monthly tickets via the app or at the counters, and this is not possible at the machines anyway. “We changed our system in June so that nobody buys a ticket that they don’t need,” says Rainer Vohl, spokesman for the HVV.
In Berlin and Hanover it was “technically too complicated,” they say. What exactly the hurdle is to taking monthly tickets out of the offer for a short time cannot be said for either the GVH or the BVG. The monthly tickets remain on sale – also because you will need them again from September when the nine-euro ticket ends.