At least ten million people used Germany’s €49 ticket known as Deutschlandticket in July and August, data provided by the industry association VDV have shown.
According to VDV, despite so many people using the ticket, the number still remains below its potential, with the authorities hoping for more citizens of the country as well as travellers to use it in the future.
VDV said that it anticipates that more users of public transport season tickets will switch to the €49 monthly ticket in the next months, stressing that this will benefit everyone.
In any case, data suggest that the Deutschlandticket has motivated thousands of people who did not use public transport before to start using buses and trains due to its affordability.
According to the nationwide market research carried out by VDV, eight per cent of the people who purchased the €49 ticket said that they had not used public transport before.
Moreover, 42 per cent of the respondents said that they had previously had a public transport pass, and another 47 per cent said that they travelled by bus and train before the Deutschlanditicket was introduced.
In addition to the above-mentioned, market research has shown that around five per cent of all journeys that were made using Deutschlandticket would have been made by car if the ticket had not been made available.
The research also showed that the ticket is more popular in cities located in the countryside, where public transport services are generally more extensive. Around 20 to 30 per cent of the respondents in large cities hold a Deutschlandticket whereas only about six per cent hold a ticket in small towns and in rural areas.
“This shows once again that an inexpensive public transport ticket is not enough on its own to persuade people to buy it and switch to bus and rail. The only way to achieve this is by ensuring that local transportation offerings are sufficiently attractive,” VDV President Wortmann said.
The Deutschlandticket was launched on May 1, 2023, in an attempt to lessen the burden amid the increasing prices and push more people to use buses and trains more frequently to make travel more climate-friendly.
The Deutschlandticket comes in the form of a monthly subscription, renewed automatically each month. The subscription can be cancelled at any time, and the ticket can only be used by the person who purchased it, meaning that it cannot be transferred.
