In the question of what happens next with the Deutschlandticket for local public transport, the federal states are divided: While the Transport Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Oliver Krischer (Greens), is openly threatening to soon abolish the heavily subsidized monthly ticket, in Berlin the There are even signs of a further reduction in the price to 29 euros per month. On Thursday, the supervisory board of the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB) decided to reintroduce the 29-euro ticket, at least for the Berlin tariff area, in the first half of 2024. This was already the case in the capital during a transition phase until the introduction of the Deutschlandticket on May 1st.
However, the introduction of the 29-euro ticket is subject to the capital’s budget being able to support it, because: “The financial burden will be borne exclusively by the state of Berlin,” the VBB clarified in a press release. At the same time, prices for other, less loyal customers will be increased on January 1st. The single ticket increases by 30 cents to 3.50 euros. The reason for this is the continued high costs for fuel, personnel and investments, which are putting the transport companies in the VBB under great economic pressure.
“Deutschlandticket could soon be history again”
This means that there seem to be very different opinions among the countries about the financial feasibility of public transport tickets. A special meeting was also scheduled for Thursday afternoon in which the transport ministers of the federal states want to deal with the expected costs of the Germany ticket next year. The chairman of the Conference of Transport Ministers, Krischer, wants to get the federal government to agree to cover half of the possible additional costs of the ticket not only for the current year of introduction, but also for 2024. If a solution is not found very quickly, then the successful ticket model will “completely Quickly history again,” warned Krischer.
So far it has been agreed that the federal and state governments will each cover 1.5 billion euros to cover the transport associations’ loss of income. With more than 11 million users in the first few months since May, the Deutschlandticket is considered a success. However, the price of 49 euros per month is in many cases significantly lower than the previous subscription costs. The Association of German Transport Companies expects additional costs for the Deutschlandticket to amount to 1.1 billion euros in 2024.
Unlike Krischer, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) sees no need for clarification. Financial issues would have been clarified by 2025 as part of a Prime Minister’s Conference, said the FDP politician in the NTV program “Early Start”. He suggested drastically reducing the number of transport associations from currently more than 60 and making savings there.
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