9-euro ticket could help bring down rising prices again, say Greens

Green politicians in Schleswig-Holstein are calling on the German government to revitalise the 9-euro ticket in the hope that it would cushion the blow of rising prices.

Schleswig-Holstein politicians for 9-euro ticket return

In a press release earlier this month, Schleswig-Holstein State Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility, Katrin Eder, called on the CDU/CSU-SPD federal government in Berlin to reintroduce the 9-euro ticket. 

“Oil companies are doing what they always do. They are stuffing their pockets at the expense of our society,” Eder wrote in her statement, referring to the oil crisis prompted by the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. 

Speaking to The Local, Eder said Germany “urgently need[s] a profit tax to penalise this corporate behaviour” and that the additional revenue should be used to finance the 9-euro ticket. “This way, we can relieve the burden on consumers and have an environmentally positive impact.”

In Schleswig-Holstein, the SPD has been the only other party to publicly support Eder’s appeal to the federal government. At the federal level, the Left Party has also joined the appeal.

How effective was the first 9-euro ticket?

The 9-euro ticket was introduced by the SPD-Greens-FDP government in June 2022 to minimise rising energy prices following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The ticket allowed unlimited travel on public and regional transport across Germany for 9 euros per month and was hugely popular among consumers. 

Available during June, July, and August 2022, 52 million 9-euro tickets were sold during this period. A further 10 million people subscribed to another public transport ticket, meaning nearly 80 percent of the German population held a public transport ticket during this three-month period.

Germany’s inflation rate decreased slightly during the three months, which the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) partly attributed to the popularity of the 9-euro ticket. The ticket’s popularity also prompted widespread calls for a longer-term, affordable, nationwide transport ticket.

The Deutschlandticket, then known as the 49-euro ticket, was introduced in May 2023. In July 2023, Destatis also concluded that the Deutschlandticket had helped to reduce inflation from 4,7 percent in April to 4,5 percent May 2023. Other policies, such as the energy price cap, also played a role.

Criticisms of the 9-euro and Deutschlandtickets

But there were also many criticisms of the 9-euro ticket; it increased train delays by 30 percent, and only reduced car traffic by around 5 percent. A 2024 report from the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich called the ticket an “expensive and inefficient climate protection measure”.

And when it comes to the Deutschlandticket, the passenger association PRO BAHN has pointed out that the ticket is highly appealing to people living in cities, but there are still municipalities with more than 100 residents that don’t have a single connection to the public transport network. 

“The Deutschlandticket has not given these people anything, because they often have to travel multiple kilometres to reach the next bus stop or train station - the ticket is next to worthless for them,” PRO BAHN representative Detlef Neuß told ZDF back in 2023.

Despite these shortcomings, recent figures published by the German government show that in October and November 2025, the Deutschlandticket was more popular than at any point since its introduction. During any given month in 2025, an average of 14,2 million people had a Deutschlandticket subscription.