Germany ticket before the end? Financing unclear and user worried!

Germany ticket before the end? Financing unclear and user worried!

The Germany ticket is currently causing plenty of conversation in the political landscape. With a price of 58 euros, passengers enables passengers to drive indefinitely in regional and local transport. But behind this attractive solution there are major challenges, especially with regard to financing.

According to a report by JungeWelt.de there are currently different ideas among the 16 federal countries, such as the financing of the Germany tickets are ensured can. While the quick agreement at the Conference of Transport Ministers are aiming for at the end of the month, others are already on the brakes, such as Berlin's ruling Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU), who considers the ticket to be too expensive.

financing problem by 2026

The financing is only guaranteed by the end of 2024, and even the annual promise of 1.5 billion euros from the federal government does not cover the estimated total costs of over three billion euros. The price of the ticket will increase to 58 euros from next year. Despite the upcoming increase, the wave of termination has so far been absent; Around 13.5 million subscribers are currently recorded, although the goal of 15 million has not yet been reached by the end of 2024, such as zdfheute.de illustrated.

The current agreement provides for an even distribution of costs between the federal and state governments, which, however, is questioned by various traffic ministers, such as Bavaria's Christian Bernreiter. He demands that the federal government should cover the costs completely in the future. The North Rhine-Westphalian and Lower Saxony Transport Minister also advocate a long-term solution, while the debate about possible price increases after 2025 has already been initiated.

future of the Germany ticket in the discussion

In the political arena, the discussion about the Germany ticket is accompanied by a certain urgency. The Association of German Transport Companies warns that the previous compensation payments will not be sufficient, and the Union and SPD groups are committed to continuing the offer beyond 2025, but would like to gradually increase user financing. This creates a split echo, because the opinions on the distribution of costs among the federal states are anything but united.

In addition, an analysis of Deutschlandfunk.de not only gained the Germany ticket to the car in popularity, but also significant CO2 savings of up to 6.5 million Tons achieved a year. It is particularly noteworthy that almost half of the ticket users have rarely used local transport beforehand.

The coming weeks will be crucial whether it will be possible to combine the funding puzzles. If not, there could be a risk that many will switch back to cars, especially if the ticket price should continue to rise. A cheaper ticket, such as the 29-euro model required by many, could also help to gain customers from less favored layers and thus create broader acceptance for local public transport.