Before the delayed 49-euro ticket has even reached ticket machines across Germany, it is already scheduled for a price hike. Federal state governments will meet this week to discuss amendments to the Deutschlandticket policy.

Deutschlandticket to increase in price

Germany’s 49-euro “Deutschlandticket” for local and regional public transport is not available in ticket offices yet, but it has already caused a great furore. First expected in January then delayed until May, German newspaper Handelsblatt has now reported that the ticket is likely to increase in price come 2024.

As a follow-up to the affordable 9-euro ticket, the price of the 49-euro ticket has been met with criticism since it was announced. Now governments in Germany’s federal states have submitted an amendment to the federal government’s draft law which outlines that “the price shall be fixed annually in an agreement between the federal government and the federal states”. 

The amendment will be discussed by the Bundesrat committee for transport this week.

Federal states must agree on long-term funding plan

Over the coming years, the states must work together to organise how the Deutschlandticket will be funded in the long run. According to the Handelsblatt report, this includes the “possibility or even necessity to increase the price”. 

As it stands, the federal state governments across Germany have contributed 1,5 billion euros to subsidising the 49-euro ticket. The fact that the name "49-euro ticket" has caught on is quite unlucky for policymakers, who attempted to make the “Deutschlandticket” name stick so that there was more flexibility for price hikes in the future.

Since the policy was announced in November, federal states have been in disagreement over how much each state should contribute to the nationwide ticket. Each state is expected to contribute between a few thousand to 1 billion euros towards a nationwide marketing campaign that would promote the ticket, but Hamburg, Berlin and Brandenburg are still reluctant to cough up their share.

Such infighting has led some transport associations to introduce their own reduced-price ticket policies while the wait continues. Berlin now has the 29-euro ticket and Hesse, the 31-euro ticket.

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