Rail travelers can currently use the Deutschlandticket to travel comfortably across transport network boundaries by bus and train. In Saxony-Anhalt, the Stendal district council was the first to decide that tickets will no longer be valid on buses there from January. In Bavaria, people initially don’t seem to have to worry, as a survey by the SZ among various large transport associations showed. The Germany ticket should continue to be valid here at least until April 30, 2024.
The Augsburg Transport and Tariff Association (AVV), the Greater Ingolstadt Transport Association (VGI), the Nuremberg Transport Association (VGN) and the Munich Transport Association (MVV) cited the secured financing and this very date. It can be assumed that the situation is similar for other Bavarian regions: The Bavarian Association of Cities also assumes that the municipalities will use the Deutschlandticket at least until the end of April. What will happen next is still unclear for the transport associations.
However, Robert Frank from VGI emphasized: “If financing is secured beyond that, then we are happy to continue the Deutschlandticket.” The Nuremberg Transport Company (VGN) also wants to keep the ticket that is valid throughout Germany. It has become established in the months since its introduction and is now an indispensable part of public transport, said VGN managing director Anja Steidl. “With our passengers in mind, we are relieved that they will be able to continue to use the advantages of the ticket in the coming months,” said Steidl. At the same time, she made it clear that the VGN could not stick to the Deutschlandticket if the transport companies’ shortfall in income could not be compensated for. As public transport authorities, the municipalities are responsible for this compensation payment. The Free State, in turn, compensates the municipalities for these costs according to uniform nationwide guidelines.
The spokesman for the Bavarian Association of Cities, Achim Sing, said that the municipalities had “insufficient federal and state funds available for 2024”. It is “quite possible that local authorities will have to decide not to continue using the Deutschlandticket due to a strained budget situation”. The conference of transport ministers must present a concept by February at the latest “that does not shift the financing risk one-sidedly to the municipal authorities.” Otherwise the Association of Cities would see “the continued existence of the Germany Ticket being seriously questioned,” said Sing.
The federal and state governments agree that the Deutschlandticket should continue to exist, but they do not agree on who will bear the additional costs. The Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) expects a shortfall in revenue of 6.4 billion euros this year and next year; the federal and state governments have so far pledged six billion.
So far, the monthly subscription to the Deutschlandticket costs 49 euros. However, according to Bavaria’s Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU), it may not stay that way. When it comes to finding a permanent solution at the beginning of the year, the transport ministers’ conference will “also have to discuss a price increase,” he told the German Press Agency.