The consumer advice centers are demanding a multi-year price guarantee for the future Germany ticket for buses and trains in local transport. The mobility expert of the Federal Association (vzbv), Marion Jungbluth, told the German Press Agency that "a binding commitment from the federal and state governments is needed that the ticket price of 49 euros per month will remain stable until the end of 2025". Until then, federal funding has been promised.

Jungbluth warned against possibly even adjusting the price annually. These would be devastating signals for the success of the ticket, which is “actually a Germany subscription”. If consumers now decide to switch their existing subscriptions to the Germany subscription, they would need a reliable price statement.

The nationwide public transport ticket is scheduled to start on May 1st. It should cost 49 euros a month, which is expressly referred to as the "introductory price" - later increases are therefore possible. A digitally bookable, monthly terminable subscription is planned. The offer is intended to build on the popular 9-euro ticket from last summer, which was intended to relieve citizens of the significant price increases resulting from the Ukraine war.

After a long struggle with the federal states, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) introduced a bill on financing to the Bundestag. According to this, the federal government wants to provide an extra 1.5 billion euros from 2023 to 2025 to compensate for half of the loss of income from transport providers. The federal states should pay for the other half. There are still numerous practical questions to be answered about the design of the new ticket, which is significantly cheaper than existing regional subscription offers.

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