The 9-Euro Ticket

Transportation is an aspect of sustainable development. Germany grapples with the dilemma of being dependent on the auto industry for economic growth, while also wanting to promote public transportation as the transportation of a sustainable future. The German government introduced the 9-euro ticket in the summer of 2022 in efforts to alleviate the effects of rising costs of living and fuel. The deal lasted for the months of June, July, and August and was available to anyone including non-German residents and tourists. The ticket covered buses, trams, subways, light rail, regional and regional express trains, and some ferry connections at no additional cost to the initial payment of 9 euros.

In terms of achieving the original goal, the 9-euro ticket was successful because people returned to using public transport at similar rates pre-covid. There were also first-time riders who were encouraged to try public transport because of the low cost. The trains were seeing a 10%-25% increase in ridership with 21 million tickets being sold between May and July. However, there were many negative impacts that could have been better anticipated. The primary issue was overcrowded trains that had to turn people away and caused delays because of a lack of service staff to help inexperienced travelers. The combination of overcrowding and a lack of service staff caused inefficiencies that could have been avoided if the trains were more prepared to accommodate the crowds and had the infrastructure such as running more buses or trains, there would have been less inefficiency.

I believe that the offer should be reintroduced because the costs of living and fuel are even higher now with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, however at a higher cost for the consumer. The scheme could be modified to only be for German residents or EU residents, or changing the months in which the ticket is available for off season rather than tourism season to not overwhelm the public transportation system. I think the added layer of the tourism season created the main problems and shocked the system. An argument in favor of bringing back the 9-Euro Ticket is that it did in fact encourage the use of public transportation for people who would not have used it to begin with. It also encourages investment in public transportation to accommodate the riders. An argument against the program is that without any investment in the system, there will be another system shock with the lack of infrastructure to support the program. Additionally, the scheme is not self-funded. The government had to invest 2.5 billion euros to support the program at a loss and there was not any funding made available to invest in infrastructure. I am sure there would still be interest in the program if the ticket cost was raised to 20 euros, or a price that is low enough to encourage travel but high enough to bring in more revenue to support the program.

The Greens are in favor of bringing back a reduced price ticket utilizing funds out of the climate protection program and reducing deductions for company cars. Green politicians are proposing a 29 euro regional ticket and 49 euro national ticket.