Public transport users in Germany are holding on to their Deutschlandticket subscriptions, despite the ticket's price rising from 49 euros to 58 euros per month at the start of 2025.
Deutschlandticket subscription figures remained stable during the first month of 2025, according to figures from the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV).
Since January 1, public transport users have had to pay 58 euros per month for the ticket, which permits unlimited public and regional transport travel across Germany’s 16 federal states. The price rise from 49 euros has not resulted in an uptick in subscription cancellations.
“Our industry goal was that 15 million people would have a Deutschlandticket at the end of 2024. We surpassed this goal by around 10 percent,” VDV President Ingo Wortmann explained in a press release. “We are certainly not seeing a wave of cancellations as a result of the price increase,” Wortmann continued.
Deutschlandticket holders have the opportunity to cancel their subscription every month. But according to Wortmann, Deutschlandticket monthly cancellation rates sat at 8,1 percent in January 2025, only slightly over the average monthly cancellation rate of 7 percent during 2024.
Since it launched in May 2023, there has been a political push and pull over how the ticket is funded. The main sticking point is how funding responsibilities are shared between the state and federal governments.
While the Deutschlandticket was the brainchild of the federal government, which had long promised extra funding to the states to help keep the subscription going, a cheque from Berlin still hadn't materialised a year after the ticket was launched.
In July 2024, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) finally said the Bundestag would pay missing funds out to state governments, and a price hike was avoided until 2025.
But the traffic light coalition collapse in November meant the ticket’s fate hung in the balance once again. Ministers sounded the alarm that a July 2024 decision to amend the Regionalisation Act should be voted on in parliament as soon as possible before the traffic light coalition left office.
After a scramble, the Regionalisation Act was amended in December, allowing a price rise to 58 euros per month from 2025 and securing funding for the ticket until 2026. In what form the ticket continues from January 2026, or if it continues at all, will be up to whichever coalition is formed following the federal election on February 23.
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