Its fate has hung in the balance for a while now, but the German government has just announced that it has finally secured funding to continue the 49-euro ticket scheme through 2024.
After months of debate, the German federal and state governments have agreed on a way to fund the 49-euro Deutschlandticket past May 2024. According to reports from rbb, the ticket will be partly funded using the leftover budget from 2023.
The new funding terms for the ticket, which gives holders unlimited access to public transport and regional trains for a monthly 49-euro subscription, were agreed between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and state representatives at a meeting in Berlin on the evening of November 6.
Federal Minister for Transport Volker Wissing (FDP) welcomed the agreement and declared the 49-euro ticket as a major success.
Back in 2022, it had already been agreed that the federal government and governments of the 16 German federal states would both put forward 1,5 billion euros to fund the ticket. Where the funding needed on top of this would come from remained a contentious issue for a long time.
State-level governments and transport companies maintained that the federal government should cover the extra costs since the ticket was a policy introduced at the federal level. Now however, these funds will be taken from the extra budget for 2023, but it remains to be seen how this approach will impact the cost of the ticket for passengers.
Ministers at the meeting on Monday evening also added that the Deutschlandticket plans for 2024 include simplifying the ticket and digitising more processes related to the subscription service.
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