“The Germany ticket will be introduced on May 1st,” announced the chairman of the conference of transport ministers, Oliver Krischer, on Friday after a working group meeting with the federal government.
“So what many wish for will become reality from May 1st,” says Krischer. Sales of nationwide tickets for buses and trains in regional transport should therefore start on April 3rd, he said.
Not only has progress been made on these issues, “but a final agreement has been reached on the really important points,” he continued.
In addition, there should be an even cheaper job ticket throughout Germany. This is an important step for climate-friendly mobility, said Krischer (Greens), who is Minister of Transport for North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to this, employers have the option of providing their employees with the 49-euro ticket as a job ticket. If they grant a discount of at least 25 percent, the federal and state governments will add a further discount of five percent. In this way, employees could get the ticket for at least 30 percent less.
The Germany ticket is to be the successor to the 9-euro ticket from the summer, which was sold over 50 million times. It was valid from June to August and you could travel nationwide by bus and train for nine euros a month.
This principle should also apply to the new Deutschlandticket for 49 euros. The transport companies had said that the start on May 1st was technically possible if the last questions were clarified.
Digital implementation still unclear
According to information from the German Press Agency (dpa), no agreement was reached on the question of how digital the ticket will be, at least initially. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) is aiming for an exclusively digital ticket.
The Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) recently called for the possibility for transport associations to be able to issue a paper ticket, at least temporarily. Not all associations are therefore able to offer a digital ticket.
It was actually supposed to start at the beginning of the year, but the federal and state governments were arguing about individual regulations. Transport Minister Volker Wissing advocates a purely digital ticket, while some countries also want to offer paper tickets.
The agreement is still subject to the EU Commission approving the 49-euro ticket. The project concerns state aid issues which the Commission is currently examining.
The implementation lies with the transport associations and local transport companies, which in turn usually belong to the federal states. (Reuters, dpa)
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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