The 9-euro pass, which allowed holidaymakers to criss-cross Germany by public transport, has “an official successor”, announcement Of the Spiegel. The German government and the Länder agreed on November 2 to finance a similar ticket, giving access to buses, metros, trams and regional trains for a monthly fare of 49 euros. It will be set up “as soon as possible”.
“Marketed under the name ‘Deutschlandticket’ [‘ticket Allemagne’]this monthly subscription will be valid throughout the country”, explains the Hamburg weekly. The Federal State will spend 1.5 billion euros annually to finance the measure and support the railway company Deutsche Bahn. “It also intends to release an additional 1 billion per year for the development of local transport in the Länder”, specifies the newspaper, which recalls that certain regions are still poorly served.
“Towards a social, sustainable and accessible system”
In the press across the Rhine, the introduction of this pass raised hopes of a “bus and rail revolution in Germany”, as an extension of the first summer pass. Mobility researcher Stefan Carsten explains to the Spiegel that the initiative “represents a small step in this direction”.
“We are moving towards a social, sustainable and accessible to all transport system”, he affirms, before specifying that the price of the subscription, higher than that practiced this summer, will discourage all the same a not insignificant part of the population.
“This 49 euro ticket valid throughout Germany simplifies many things, but also complicates many others”, adds, meanwhile, The time. Between 11 million and 20 million people could use this new offer, according to a survey by the Civey Institute commissioned by The mirror. Many of them could therefore favor regional trains, to the detriment of other transport options such as the ICE, the German equivalent of the TGV. For “compensate for the loss of earnings”, their prices are likely to increase drastically. The number of trains running on the various lines of the country will also have to be adapted to passenger traffic.