For months, the German federal and state governments have been discussing a follow-up for the €9 ticket – the hugely popular Germany-wide travel card that ran from June to the end of August earlier this year.

But now a follow-up solution is finally in sight. At a meeting on Monday, the state transport ministers expressed their willingness to co-finance a successor to the €9 ticket and to reach an agreement with the federal government by mid-October for a ticket that would go on sale on January 1st, 2023.

READ ALSO: Can German ministers agree on funding for a €9 ticket follow-up?

Following the meeting, Bremen’s transport senator Maike Schäfer (Greens), chairwoman of the conference of state transport ministers, said: “We have taken a good step forward.”

While various price points had previously been discussed for a follow-up ticket, including a ticket for €69, a €49 ticket is now the focus of discussions.

According to Schäfer, the ticket would cost an additional €3 billion a year, and, although local transportation is under the control of the states, the federal government will have to help finance it.

Transport Minister Volker Wissing has said that he wants the government to provide half of the funding for the new ticket and the other half would be covered by the states.

However, the states are insisting on a lot of extra funding including, for example, an additional €1.5 billion for the expansion of local transportation and a similar amount of money to compensate for the drastic increase in energy prices.

READ ALSO: What we know so far about the successor to Germany’s €9 ticket

A working group has been set up to work out how exactly the ticket will be financed, which will deliver a result by October 12th, the date of the next conference of state transport ministers.