Deutschlandticket: public transport associations push for new safety standards

Fraud with the Deutschlandticket is considered a major problem. Now that the CDU, CSU and SPD have agreed in their coalition agreement to keep the flat-rate ticket until at least 2029, public transport industry organizations are calling for "further IT measures to secure revenue and protect passengers". The Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), the Federal Association of Local Rail Transport (BSN) and the railroad competitors' association Mofair jointly emphasized on Wednesday that all parties involved must be "even better protected against ticket fraud".

According to them, a working group of the industry giants has made "further joint specifications". "Key technical steps should be implemented by June 30," the three associations appeal to other important players such as the rail unions, who have a say in the introduction of corresponding standards. If the VDV, BSN and Mofair have their way, only tickets for Germany that meet the new safety standards will be valid from October 1 at the latest.

With their appeal, the presidents of the three associations are also increasing the pressure on the entire industry, after a similar project narrowly failed last year. They emphasize: "This is the only way we can secure the industry's income and protect paying customers. We must systematically prevent cases of fraud such as ticket copies, counterfeiting or unreported sales." To do this, it is necessary to make "digital ticket controls technically more secure and efficient".

No details

The three organizations do not want to publish details of the planned security precautions "so as not to tip off any fraudsters". The measures concern "sales as well as control, IT security and organizational processes". The timeframe set for this is ambitious, as the technical service providers required for implementation only have limited capacities. However, the associations believe there is "no alternative" to their approach.

Despite several price increases to EUR 58 per month, the number of flat-rate tickets sold since their introduction in May 2023 has risen from 9 million to almost 14 million at the beginning of 2025. However, transport associations complain that there are also around one million counterfeit or unpaid Germany tickets in circulation. There is a systematic, digitalized abuse. Offenders are said to have bought the tickets by SEPA direct debit mandate and then not paid for them. Since the summer, customers of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV), for example, have therefore had to confirm their account details via the Tink open banking platform provided by Visa when a new direct debit is booked. This requires an online banking account.

Deutsche Bahn (DB) has been requiring its customers to verify their account via Tink or Verimi when taking out a subscription since the end of 2023. However, the procedure also deters interested parties. Solution providers sense a business opportunity and offer special fraud detection systems. For example, a cloud-based service with behavioural analysis, risk assessment based on patterns, customizable verification algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) is said to be able to detect over 95% of fraud cases and optimize payment processes at the same time.

(mma)