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TRANSPORT

How the Greens want to replace Germany’s €9 ticket deal

New proposals drafted by the Green Party have set out plans for two new cheap travel tickets in Germany as well as a shake-up of the country's travel zones. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 5 August 2022 17:03 CEST
Regional train in Coburg Bavaria
A region train arrives in Coburg, Bavaria, on the first day on the €9 ticket deal. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Vogl

What’s going on?

Germany’s €9 travel deal has been hugely popular this summer, with an estimated 30 million or so passengers taking advantage of the offer in June alone. Now the last month of the three-month offer is underway, there are hopes that the ticket could be replaced by another deal that offers simple, affordable travel on a regional or national basis.

There have been a few ideas for this floating around, including a €365 annual ticket and a €69 monthly ticket pitched by German transport operators. Now the Green Party has weighed in with a concept paper setting out plans for two separate travel tickets to replace the €9 ticket. The paper was obtained by ARD Hauptstadtstudio on Friday. 

Why do they want two different tickets?

The first ticket would be a regional one costing just €29 a month and the second would be a €49 that, much like the €9 ticket, would be valid for the whole of Germany.

This would allow people who mainly stay in their local region to opt for the most cost-effective option while long-distance commuters or those who want to travel further afield could opt for the nationwide offer.

Presumably the ticket would once again be valid for local and regional transport only rather than long-distance trains like the ICE. 

To simplify the system even more, the Greens also want to introduce new travel zones for the regional monthly tickets.

READ ALSO: Has Germany’s €9 rail ticket been a success?

How would the travel zones change?

According to the paper, Germany would be divided into eight regional zones that would include the Berlin-Brandenburg area, the eastern German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt and the northern states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania. 

The zones take passengers “statewide at a minimum”, the paper says, for example in the larger states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North-Rhine Westphalia.

However, as the map below shows, states will also be clustered together to make larger regions.

One of the major draws of the €9 ticket has been the flat-rate system that allows passengers to travel anywhere in the country using the same ticket. This appears to be what the Greens are trying to replicate with their proposals. 

READ ALSO: What happens to Germany’s €9 ticket at the end of August?

How would this be financed? 

As you might expect, the Green Party is placing less eco-friendly forms of transport in the crosshairs as it looks for cash to fund the cheap tickets.

The first way to free up cash would be to end tax breaks for people with company cars. In addition, taxes on CO2 emissions would be increased. 

This would result in “additional revenues for the federal government and the states, which could flow seamlessly into the financing of cheap tickets”, the paper states. 

However, the Greens don’t set out how much money they think this would bring in or how much the discounted tickets would cost the state in total. 

Is this definitely going to happen?

At the moment, it seems that the Greens are the main voices in the coalition government pushing for a longer term travel deal – and they continue to face opposition from the pro-business FDP.

Unfortunately for the Green Party, the FDP happen to be heading up two crucial ministries that could both play a role in blocking a future offer: the Finance Ministry and the Transport Ministry. 

However, with four out of five people saying they want to see a successor to the €9 ticket in autumn, Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) is currently under pressure to come up with a replacement as soon as possible. 

A passenger sits on the platform a Berlin Hauptbahnhof

A passenger sits on the platform a Berlin Hauptbahnhof waiting for a train. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Joerg Carstensen

At a press conference a few weeks ago, he promised to discuss this with the state transport ministers after analysing how successful the ticket had been.

In particular, researchers will want to look at how many people ended up leaving the car at home and taking the bus or train instead.

Though the data on this is inconclusive at the moment, some studies have shown reduced congestion on the roads while the ticket was running.

In a survey of The Local’s readers conducted last month, 80 percent of respondents said they had used public transport more with the €9 ticket and 85 percent said they wanted to see a similar deal continue in the autumn.

Of the options on the table so far, a monthly €29 ticket was by far the most popular choice.

READ ALSO: ‘Affordable and simple’: What foreigners in Germany want to see after the €9 ticket

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For members

TRAIN TRAVEL

Where to expect disruption due to rail upgrades in Germany this year

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn is ploughing billions into rail upgrades this year, which will result in temporary detours and longer journey times. We look at the areas affected.

Published: 29 April 2024 14:46 CEST
Where to expect disruption due to rail upgrades in Germany this year

Long-distance train travel in Germany has become hit by continuous delays in recent years – and one reason for that is the deteriorating rail infrastructure. 

Deutsche Bahn has launched a massive overhaul to improve the network by 2030 – but it does mean that customers are seeing disruption get worse before it gets better. 

The firm plans to invest €16.4 billion in a comprehensive infrastructure programme, with the aim of renewing about 2,000 kilometres of track, 2,000 points as well as upgrading several stations and bridges. Deutsche Bahn says it wants to make the existing infrastructure more efficient and robust while creating more capacity on the rail network.

READ ALSO: The shocking state of German trains exposes the myth about punctuality

Where is the focus of the work?

Modernisation and construction will be underway at around 1,000 stations and stops in 2024. This includes the main stations in Duisburg, Dresden, Hanover, Ulm and Munich.

Deutsche Bahn is also investing in lots of smaller and medium-sized stations, for instance to upgrade ‘barrier-free’ access for customers with mobility issues, weather protection and passenger information signs and screens.

“For the first time in many years, we will succeed in stopping the ageing of the railway infrastructure in 2024,” said Philipp Nagl, head of DB-InfraGO – the railway’s infrastructure company.

In day-to-day operations, passengers will see disruption on important routes. Construction sites have already led to major problems with punctuality.

ICE trains in Hamburg.

Deutsche Bahn ICE trains in Hamburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christian Charisius

READ ALSO: German government expects more punctual trains ‘by Christmas’

Where is major disruption expected?

On the way to improving punctuality and quality, passengers will have to deal with with diversions and longer journey times in many places – such as during the refurbishment of the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim. Preparatory work is currently ongoing, while the renovation officially kicks off in July. 

Its modernisation is the first of 40 so-called high-performance corridors to be tackled. As The Local has reported, the Frankfurt-Mannheim corridor is one of the busiest in Germany and its closure for works has a knock-on effect on the entire network by putting more passengers and trains on alternative routes – affecting the cross-country services that go through the area.

The line will is scheduled to reopen fully on December 14th 2024.

Other routes likely to be hit by disruption including diversions this year are:

  • Kassel – Göttingen, due to completed by the end of May 2024
  • Frankfurt am Main – Fulda, due to be completed by June 7th 2024
  • Cologne – Frankfurt am Main, July 16th to August 16th 2024
  • Erfurt – Eisenach, August 2nd to November 24th, 2024
  • Hamburg – Schwerin, August 4th to November 22nd, 2024
  • Karlsruhe – Freiburg, August 10th to 30th 2024
  • Hamburg – Berlin, August 17th to December 14th 2024
  • Hamm-Hagen, October 19th to December 14th, 2024

More work on the Hamburg-Berlin line is expected in 2025 as well as on the Emmerich-Oberhausen route. By 2030, the rail network is to be completely overhauled.

The routes are selected and prioritised in collaboration with the federal government as well as local transport authorities and associations.

At the moment, just 64 percent of German trains run on time, meaning they arrive at their destination within six minutes of the scheduled arrival time. The government wants to hike that up to 70 percent in the short-term, with the goal of increasing that to 80 percent by 2030.

READ ALSO: More staff, longer transfer times: How rail travel in Germany is being improved

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