Germany’s Transport Minister, Volker Wissing, has ruled out extending the 9-euro ticket beyond its initial three-month run, saying that the scheme would cost too much. 

9-euro ticket only a temporary measure, German minister insists

In an interview with RTL / ntv on Thursday, Wissing said that he was broadly satisfied with how the 9-euro ticket was going after nearly a month of operation, but ruled out the possibility of keeping the offer of discounted public transport beyond three months. 

“It’s not possible in the long term, because the ticket costs over 1 billion euros a month,” he said. He made it clear that the measure was intended as a temporary solution to the high cost of energy. “Accordingly, there are currently no considerations to extend it.” 

He added that the response to the ticket has so far been positive. “Many states didn’t even want the ticket and now they don’t want to get rid of it,” he said, referring to the initial dispute between the federal government and the states over the ticket’s financing. 

Wissing said the plan was to now evaluate and discuss the temporary measures with the federal states to come up with a course of action for how bus and train services across Germany can be improved. 

365-euro ticket and 29-euro ticket both touted as replacements

Recently, there have been many proposals to extend the scheme or replace it with a different form of discounted public transport. The Left have revived calls for a nationwide 365-euro annual ticket, while most recently the Association of Consumer Advice Centres said that the ticket should be replaced with a 29-euro monthly ticket. 

Wissing said he had taken note of these suggestions but emphasised that further discussions will only be had after the scheme has been evaluated.