Germany's Deutschlandticket hits 14.6 million users despite rising costs

Three Years of the Deutschlandticket: A Success—But Not Without Controversy

There's no question the Deutschlandticket has been a success—it has become "an indispensable part of daily life for millions of people," as the rail lobby group Allianz pro Schiene declared on Wednesday. The Association of German Transport Companies (Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen, VDV) hails it as "the biggest fare revolution in local public transport."

Even CDU Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder recently stated: "The Deutschlandticket is working." It relieves financial pressure on citizens, benefits the climate, and strengthens public transit. Yet over the past three years, the subscription model has repeatedly sparked political disputes—even as customer numbers have steadily climbed:

• Currently, around 14.6 million people in Germany hold a Deutschlandticket.
• At the start of 2025, the VDV reported 13.5 million subscribers.
• In early 2024, the figure was just over 11 million.

However, only about 5% of users are so-called new adopters—customers who had not used buses or trains at all before the ticket's introduction—according to researchers from the Kopernikus Project Ariadne roughly a year ago. Nearly half of all Deutschlandticket holders had previously used public transport, but only occasionally.

Two Price Hikes in Three Years

The fact that the ticket's price has already risen twice in three years has deterred relatively few customers.

• The Deutschlandticket succeeded the pilot 9-euro ticket and launched on May 1, 2023, at €49 per month.
• In early 2024, the federal government, states, and transport associations raised the price to €58.
• Since the start of 2025, it has cost €63 per month.

The official justification for the increases? Rising costs for transport operators. Because the Deutschlandticket is cheaper than most regional subscriptions and more people are using public transit, operators claim they are losing revenue. Additionally, their general expenses—personnel, energy, and operations—have surged due to inflation.

So far, the federal and state governments have refused to increase their financial contributions to the ticket, each providing €1.5 billion annually while repeatedly clashing over its future. As a result, the additional costs have been passed on to customers.

At their last official meeting in late March, federal and state transport ministers announced an end to political infighting: going forward, the price will be determined by an index—a kind of mathematical formula—setting the monthly cost for one year at a time. In theory, the formula will incorporate operators' expenses to ensure the ticket price enables economically sustainable public transport. The exact figure for 2027 will be announced in September. In their coalition agreement, the CDU/CSU and SPD pledged to secure the Deutschlandticket until the end of 2029.

State Transport Ministers Push for Price Stability

According to the VDV, the previous increases to €58 and then €63 have driven away only a small number of customers. At the turn of 2025–2026, just 5.75% of users canceled their subscriptions—"within the normal range," as VDV President Ingo Wortmann stated in January. The year before, when the price first rose to €58, around 8% of customers had canceled.

Yet whether the political battles over the ticket are truly over remains to be seen. Amid the energy crisis, several state transport ministers—citing Reuters—are calling for the €63 price to be frozen for now, rather than raising it again on January 1, 2027. Oliver Krischer (Greens), transport minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Rheinische Post (Thursday) that a stable price would send the right signal in these times.

"Public transport must not be left behind when billions are mobilized for fuel discounts and cuts to air travel taxes," he said. The passenger advocacy group Pro Bahn also opposes the planned increases for 2027 and 2028. Saarland's Transport Minister Petra Berg (SPD) warned that the state must not subsidize gasoline while cutting funds for buses and trains.

Fewer Car Trips Thanks to the Deutschlandticket

Speaking of fuel: Over the past few years, Germany's nationwide 49-euro transport ticket has helped replace countless car trips with public transit journeys—a shift confirmed by researchers in multiple studies. Drawing on mobile phone and vehicle movement data, a second team from the Ariadne Project calculated that in 2023 alone, the ticket led to a 5 percent reduction in kilometers driven by car, cutting CO₂ emissions by 6.5 million metric tons.

In 2024, the ticket further reduced emissions by 2.5 million metric tons, according to findings from several research institutes commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport. The savings amount to roughly 3 percent of total emissions from private car traffic.

Social fare discounts, mobility allowances, and public transit expansion

Yet nearly all studies highlight a common conclusion: there is still significant room for improvement in local public transport. "We need more routes, higher frequencies, longer trains, and electric buses," says Jens Hilgenberg, head of transport policy at Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), who also contributes to our website. He calls the introduction of the 49-euro ticket "arguably the most successful measure for the transport transition." Despite multiple price hikes, 14.6 million people are now traveling in a climate-friendly way—a clear sign, he notes, "that people are open to alternatives to private cars."

To ease the burden on households during the energy crisis and attract new riders—particularly those who cannot currently afford the ticket—Hilgenberg is calling for:

• a nationwide social fare discount for low-income travelers; • free child fares with the 49-euro ticket to support families; • a mobility allowance that—unlike fuel subsidies or higher commuter tax breaks—would primarily benefit those on lower incomes.

So far, recurring debates over pricing have undermined deeper discussions on measures like a social fare. As recently as 2024, nearly one in four people surveyed who did not use the ticket cited cost as the main barrier, while more than a third said they avoided it because no suitable connections were available—findings from a survey by the Fraunhofer Transportation Alliance.