Deutschlandticket

The Deutschlandticket (lit. 'Germany ticket'), often shorted to the D-Ticket, is a subscription public transport ticket for all local public transport, valid in the whole of Germany. The Scholz cabinet introduced it in May 2023 as a permanent successor to the 9-Euro-Ticket which had been offered in Summer 2022. The German federation (Bund) and the federal states (Länder) initially participate in the financing with 1.5 billion euros per year until 2025.
At the beginning of January 2025, the price of the ticket was raised to €58 per month.
The ticket is valid on all local and regional buses, trams, metros, S-Bahn trains, and local and regional trains (RB/RE) across the whole of Germany, except on few RE trains operated by DB Fernverkehr.
It is usually valid on international eligible trains from/to end stations in a neighbour country, if operated by a German operator. Deutschlandticket holders can also go to a number of border tariff stations outside Germany using their passes including; Tønder in Denmark, Wissembourg (Gare de Wissembourg) in France, Hengelo (over Oldenzaal), and Venlo in the Netherlands, Basel in Switzerland and Świnoujście in Poland.
It is not valid on most of the long-distance trains (such as Intercity Express (ICE), Intercity (IC) and Eurocity (EC) trains operated by Deutsche Bahn) and on long-distance bus coaches (such as those operated by Flixbus). There are exceptions for long-distance trains, which are co-financed by cities and states.
The ticket is only valid for transportation in second class. Often it is possible to buy upgrades to first class (if available) from the concerned operator. Children under 6 years old travel for free, while older children need their own ticket. The Deutschlandticket does not include transportation for pets or for bicycles in cases where they require a separate ticket.
The Deutschlandticket was originally sold as a monthly subscription at a cost of 49 Euros per month until January 2025. The ticket is valid for a calendar month, and is automatically renewed, with payment taken by SEPA direct debit from the user's bank account or by credit card. The subscription can be cancelled by the 10th day of each month. Users wishing to purchase a new subscription for the current month on the 11th day of the month or later must pay for at least the current and the following calendar month. The mo.pla app allows users to cancel their Deutschlandticket subscription up to the second-last day of the month.
The Deutschlandticket is sold by participating local transit authorities. It is issued as a digital ticket via mobile apps offered by local transit authorities. It can also be issued on a chip smartcard using the "eTicket Deutschland" standard. Employers can subsidise the ticket for their employees, and university students can upgrade their "Semesterticket" to a Deutschlandticket. Some communities have additionally subsidised the ticket for those on low income, senior citizens and apprentices. The city of Tübingen has gone as far as subsidising the ticket for every resident, so they can get it for 34 euros per month. The local council in the city of Stuttgart has offered the Deutschlandticket to its employees as an employee benefit.
The BahnCard 100, a rail card offered by Deutsche Bahn allowing unlimited travel on its trains, includes a Deutschlandticket at no additional charge.
The use of SEPA direct debit as the only method of payment may put customers from non-Eurozone countries under legal jeopardy. For example, many Czech banks don't provide the service of direct debit for payments in Euros (though they do in Czech crowns). Czech consumers not in possession of highly specialized knowledge in consumer banking are therefore likely to fall in a trap: a subscription makes them liable to direct debit payments which they cannot technically execute, while subscription cancellation requests stay ignored for a few months, which leads to the artificial build-up of a debt. DB Verkehr then litigates such customers via a collection agency, effectively forcing them to pay a triple or quadruple subscription price.
More than 30 subsidies for low-income people exists, most of which are granted by municipalities. 28 local authorities offer a subsidised Deutschlandticket, ranging from 15 Euros (Würzburg) to 53 Euros (Magdeburg). The federal states of Hamburg, Hesse, and Northrine-Westphalia also offer a discount. Most discounts are granted to welfare recipients and asylum seekers, but the criteria differ. In addition, there are more than 200 local and regional welfare tickets throughout Germany. Furthermore, students and employees (whose employers have a contract with their local public transport company) pay lower prices for the Deutschlandticket.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy prices in Germany rose significantly. In response, the government introduced the heavily subsidized 9-Euro-Ticket, which allowed unlimited use of public local transportation across Germany at a cost of 9 euros per calendar month. It was available for June, July, and August 2022. After the end of this 3-month period, politicians called for a permanent successor ticket that would offer similar simplicity, though there was debate about the price.
At the end of November 2022, transport ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the monthly ticket for 49 euros, and it was planned to start in April 2023, as a start in January was considered too early for implementation. The start was delayed further by one month as there was opposition from the local and regional transportation services like the Munich MVV that wanted more funding from the federal and the state governments.
On 31 March 2023, the Bundesrat approved the bill passed by the Bundestag for a nationwide ticket for local and regional public transportation at a monthly price of 49 euros. The monthly tickets started in May 2023, but could only be purchased by subscription. There are no paper tickets for the subscription – with the possible exception at the start-up phase; the users have to authenticate digitally (either via smartphone app or chip card).
The ticket price is to be adjusted to inflation each year, although the 49 euro price is intended to be fixed for at least the first two years of operation of the ticket.
On 31 July, three months after the introduction of the Deutschlandticket, the transport ministry reported that 11 million people subscribed to the ticket, with 5 million being existing subscribers to monthly transport passes, 5 million new subscribers from existing public transport ticket holders and one million new users of public transport. On 13 September, the Hamburg transport agency reported that it had sold over a million subscriptions.
Since the summer of 2023, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had argued with the federal states about the financing of the ticket. The financing of the ticket is unclear. Both sides have so far contributed 1.5 billion euros annually. If there is not enough money, the federal and state governments currently share the additional costs. The federal government rejects further financial commitments from 2024.
At the beginning of December 2023, the Stendal district decided that the ticket will no longer be valid on its buses from January 1, 2024. This would have meant that the Deutschlandticket would no longer be valid across the board. However, the district council reverted its decision two weeks later and the Deutschlandticket remains a valid ticket in the Stendal district.
Due to the popularity and interest in the Deutschlandticket in Germany, other countries expressed interest in introducing a similar scheme in their country.
On 30 June 2023, influenced by Deutschlandticket, the eco-socialist LIVRE party proposed a monthly rail pass for the regional trains by the state-owned rail operator Comboios de Portugal in the country's annual budget. The proposal passed in parliament, and the Portuguese government said it was introducing a 49 euros per month regional rail pass called the Passe Ferroviário Nacional (National Train Pass) from 1 August 2023. It would allow unlimited travel on all regional trains, known as comboios regionais apart from the tourist trains like the “Comboio Histórico do Douro”, and suburban rail services in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra.
Critics have said that the pass has little value due to the rules and exclusions of the pass, the fact there are few rail services in the middle of the country, and the frequent strikes by rail workers.
On 9 June 2023, German federal transport minister Volker Wissing said in an interview with Berliner Morgenpost, that he was talking to his French counterpart Clément Beaune about the scheme in a meeting between the two ministers during a discussion about a Franco-German student travel scheme.
In an interview with French YouTuber Hugo Travers on 4 September 2023, French president Emmanuel Macron said his government is looking at a French equivalent of the Deutschlandticket. Later that week on 7 September, on France 2's breakfast programme Télématin, Beaune said the transport ministry was provisionally working on a similar scheme called "Pass Rail" which would come in the summer of 2024. The ticket would allow unlimited travel throughout France on the country's regional trains, the TERs and the regular Intercités for 49 euros per month. Beaune said the government was talking to local authorities about including local bus and trams as well.
Reactions to the proposal were mixed, with the region of Grand Est being supportive of the idea, while the region of Hauts-de-France was critical particularly over costs, pointing out that the region already subsidises its TER to the tune of 530 million euros. The president of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse said in an interview on France 3 Paris Île-de-France, that the costs for such a scheme would be around 1.8 billion euros for the region, making it unaffordable. Wissing has said he would like to interlink the two schemes, so that persons could use either pass in each other's countries.
On 27 September, Beaune and the presidents of all regions came together in Saint-Malo to begin discussions on financing such a scheme, together with general rail finance such as track fees and rolling stock. It is hoped that such a subscription would be available by the summer of 2024.
A report produced for Greenpeace by the Greengauge 21 think tank suggested that a similar scheme might increase usage of UK train routes and reduce the climate impact of fossil fuel powered vehicles. The Department for Transport responded to the report by stating that the UK Government has no plans to implement a similar scheme at the present time.