Germany ticket will not be more expensive this year, but next year

The Deutschlandticket is not expected to become more expensive this year, but it will next year. The federal government has now presented amendments to the Regionalization Act that will allow federal funds not used last year to be carried over to this year. The government is thus proceeding as agreed at the Conference of Minister Presidents in November 2023, according to a statement from the Conference of Transport Ministers of the federal states.

The conference held a special meeting on Monday to discuss the Deutschlandticket. The ministers now expect the Federal Cabinet to adopt the amendments to the law before the end of this month and for them to be passed by the Bundestag after the parliamentary summer break. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already pledged funding for the Deutschlandticket in the Bundestag last week.

At their meeting yesterday, the transport ministers also agreed that the ticket price will be increased in 2025. Even if all federal and state funds are available, the price will have to be increased based on the currently forecast funding requirements, according to the press release. As agreed at the conference of transport ministers in April this year, the price will be set next fall. Data on previous developments and sales forecasts will be used for this.

"5 euros more is enough"

Lower Saxony's Transport Minister Olaf Lies had previously called for the future price to be clarified quickly. "We know that personnel and energy costs will continue to rise in the coming years. We cannot completely decouple the ticket price from this, but we need a stable and secure price if we want to achieve the climate targets and offer a mobility service," Lies told dpa. The aim is to develop a price that cushions some of the cost increases on the one hand and maintains customer confidence on the other.

The passenger association Pro Bahn believes that a price increase of 5 euros or 10 percent should be sufficient. "New customers in particular will think about whether they will still buy the ticket. With a five euro increase, most people are sure to stick with it," said Detlef Neuß, head of the association, to the Rheinische Post.

In the medium term, the association also considers an increase to 59 euros to be conceivable. "But when you consider how many billions are being spent on environmentally harmful subsidies, it is incomprehensible to me that the federal and state governments are moaning about a subsidy of 1.5 billion euros," Neuß told the newspaper.

The current draft of the formulation aid also provides for regionalization funds amounting to 350 million euros, which are to be used to finance the Deutschlandticket in 2025, to be withheld for now. The money is only to be paid out once a federal state submits proof that the funds have been used. This could therefore happen from September 1, 2026 at the earliest.

"Not economically justifiable"

"Despite the extremely tense financial situation in the industry, we are still supposed to wait almost two years until the regionalization funds, which the federal government has long since promised, are paid out in full," said Ingo Wortmann, President of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), following the special conference. "This is an absurdity and is neither economically nor commercially justifiable." Even at present, the funds available are barely sufficient to finance the existing services.

The federal states, in turn, reject the idea of linking the disbursement of regionalization funds "to the complete submission of proof of use". "This cannot be guaranteed often for known technical reasons," write the transport ministers in their resolution. The federal government also wants further price reductions as part of the Deutschlandticket, for example for school tickets, to no longer be paid for from regionalization funds in the future. The federal states would therefore have to shoulder such offers alone. "This interferes with the sovereignty of the federal states and also reduces sales, thereby increasing the deficit of the Deutschlandticket at the expense of the federal and state governments," the ministers wrote.

The federal government, in turn, criticized the announced price increase. "It is paradoxical when the debate about price increases is launched by the federal states at the same time," said Stefan Gelbhaar, Green spokesperson for transport policy. "These games must be stopped. Now that the transfer of federal funds has been secured, higher prices are off the table."

(anw)