After more than 52 million ticket sales and an estimated 1 billion trips per month in June, July and August 2022, Germany’s 9-euro ticket scheme has been declared a “complete success” by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV). 

The 9-euro ticket success in numbers

The 9-euro ticket - which for three months has granted people in Germany unlimited travel on public transport, for a little more than the price of a standard day pass - comes to an end tomorrow, and, in the opinion of the transport associations, will bow out as a resounding success. 

The VDV reported this week that between June and August 2022, 52 million 9-euro tickets were sold, not including the 10 million people automatically granted one because they already had season tickets (Abos). An estimated 1 billion journeys were made each month using the ticket. 

Pointing to the results of an extensive survey of public transport users, carried out in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, the VDV said that there had been a noticeable shift towards rail in Germany, with every 10th user of the ticket making at least one journey by public transport that they would usually have made by car without the ticket. One in five buyers was a new customer who did not normally use regional transport. 

The majority of tickets were used by people living in large German cities, with the takeup in rural areas much lower. 56 percent of people surveyed said that the cost was the main contributing factor to them buying the ticket, while 43 percent said they wanted to avoid driving. Flexibility and nationwide validity were also highlighted as bonuses. 

The VDV further estimated that the 1 billion journeys made by public transport each month saved around 1,8 million tons of carbon dioxide over the duration of the scheme - roughly the same saving as if there had been a speed limit on the German autobahn for one year. 

VDV: Government should “act now” to secure successor scheme

Although the past few months have been littered with suggestions for a follow-up scheme for the ticket, none have yet made it past the planning stage. The CEO of VDV, Oliver Wolff, told dpa that the government should act quickly to secure an ongoing solution for the people of Germany. 

“If we take the transport transition and climate change seriously, we must act now,” he said. “The ticket has been very successful and it’s worth thinking about continuing it.”