Without federal subsidies
City Council sees little future for 49 euro tickets
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It is still unclear how the costs for the 49 euro ticket will be divided between the federal and state governments next year. The German Association of Cities urgently warns that cities cannot bear the burden alone.
According to a media report, the German Association of Cities believes that the Deutschlandticket will be over if the federal government continues to reject higher subsidies in the future. “The fact that Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing rejects the financing of the deficit from 2024 beyond the current federal share of 1.5 billion euros and further discussions with the states is absolutely unacceptable,” said the managing director of the German Association of Cities, Helmut Dedy, to the newspapers of the Funke media group .
Without financial guarantees from the federal and state governments, the Deutschlandticket would be on the verge of collapse. This year, the federal and state governments each financed half of the revenue deficits of up to three billion euros that would arise from the cheap tickets for the transport companies, according to Dedy, according to the preliminary report. It is already foreseeable that the deficits could increase to over four billion euros next year.
“One-time field test for a few months”
The cities that introduced the 49-euro ticket with their transport companies would not be able to compensate for the deficits from the reduced ticket price. At the special transport ministers' conference last week there were once again no tangible results on further financing, said Dedy. “The federal government must quickly give up its blockade. We need a solution by the end of the year, otherwise the Germany ticket will remain a one-off field test for a few months. If the federal government is serious about the transport transition, that is completely the wrong signal,” said the general manager of the German Cities Day.
The 49 euro ticket is currently causing a dispute between the federal and state governments. The latter call the ticket as a whole into question if there is no solution in terms of financing. The federal and state governments have each committed 1.5 billion euros annually until 2025 to finance the 49-euro ticket. It was also agreed that any additional costs this year would be shared equally. However, there is still no agreement on this point for next year. FDP Transport Minister Wissing rejects further financial commitments from the federal government.
