The government has not yet disclosed how much the ticketing experiment cost and how many people switched from cars to public transport.
Germany celebrated one year since the launch of the Deutschlandticket (D-Ticket), an unlimited travel ticket for city and regional transport. Despite the different opinions on this product, one thing is certain: the subscription ticket for 49 euros per month will continue.
The published statistics show that over 20 million people bought the ticket, 11 million people use it regularly. “Nearly half canceled their ticket because they were more frustrated than excited about public transport,” wrote the server Der Spiegel. In many cases, the ticket brought significant overcrowding of public transport.
“A year after its introduction, Deutschlandticket has become an integral part of people’s everyday lives. It is so popular because it brings real progress. It is simple, digital, valid throughout Germany,” said Transport Minister Volker Wissing. According to the ministry’s data, more than half of the tickets were in digital form in the mobile version.
The German government expects to continue offering the D-Ticket. “We see great potential in the ticket. It also contributes to climate protection and reduces people’s costs.” added Oliver Krischer, Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia and Chairman of the Conference of Transport Ministers of the Federal States.
The government sees growth potential mainly in ticket offers for companies, for their employees the ticket is even cheaper. Thanks to the tickets, most carriers report an increase in the number of passengers to pre-pandemic levels. However, according to a number of experts, the number of ticket users must be increased to at least 15 million people for greater sustainability of the system.
A simple solution for travel
The ticket brought about a fundamental revolution, above all in the simplicity of travel: people do not have to worry about which travel document to buy. But despite the praise, politicians expect the ticket price to rise slightly.
On the one-year anniversary, the ministry did not mention two crucial figures: how much the entire €49 ticket system cost the state and regional budgets in addition, and how the number of people in cars changed and whether the new ticket led to a reduction in individual car traffic. When introducing the ticket, the cost was stated to be three billion euros per year.
DB Regio has reported that its trains have seen 28% more passengers since the start of ticket sales. The company marked the ticket as “regional public transport”.
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Tags: year unlimited travel euros month ticket continues people canceled
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