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Passers-by in front of the ticket machine: great demand
Photo: IMAGO/Wolfgang Maria Weber
According to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), around 21 million special tickets were sold nationwide in the first month of validity.
"Together with the approximately ten million subscribers who automatically receive the discounted ticket, the number of 30 million tickets per month previously calculated by the industry has not only been reached, but even slightly exceeded," said VDV President Ingo Wortmann With.
The figures relate exclusively to June.
According to surveys by the VDV, people are said to have signaled a similarly high level of willingness to buy for July.
The ticket entitles buyers to travel throughout Germany for 9 euros each in the months of June, July and August.
Subscribers can use their subscription tickets like a 9-euro ticket and are reimbursed the difference for the three months.
However, it is more difficult to determine how the ticket is actually used than the sales figures.
Deutsche Bahn, through whose channels most of the special tickets were sold, speaks of an increase in passenger numbers of 10 to 15 percent in its own regional transport in June compared to the level before the corona crisis.
However, according to the company, it compares different periods of time, namely June of this year with the demand at the end of 2019. The comparison is therefore limited.
The fact is: Buses and trains were full, especially on the tourist routes.
Because at the same time construction was at a record level, there were repeated cancellations and delays in many places.
More often, passengers with bicycles had to stay outside.
According to the railway, more than a million bicycles were transported on the company's own trains.
After all, the railway subsidiary DB Regio offers 250 additional trips daily during the ticket period, according to its own information.
But in view of around 22,000 regional train journeys every day, that's not too much.
"But the companies certainly can't retrofit any more because they have neither the vehicles nor the staff," Karl-Peter Naumann, honorary chairman of the Pro Bahn passenger association, recently said.
Just hype or a real traffic turnaround?
The 9-euro ticket runs until August – it is still open what a follow-up offer should look like.
The German Association of Cities has now asked the traffic light coalition to provide clarity for the time after the ticket has expired.
"We need to know how things will continue after the summer," said Managing Director Helmut Dedy of the "Rheinische Post".
It's about whether you "make a traffic turnaround out of the hype or let it fizzle out".
»People want to use public transport more.
Now it has to be an oath,” Dedy continued.
The cities, on the other hand, wanted to use the "tailwind" to invest in better cycles and modern vehicles.
»But for this we need the higher federal funds for local transport promised by the coalition.
And the countries have to go along with it.«
Without additional funds, many cities and transport companies would have to limit their public transport services or raise tariffs from autumn, Dedy warned.
»Then there will be no offer offensive, but gaps in the timetables and disappointment among passengers.«
Greens parliamentary manager Irene Mihalic told the "Rheinische Post" that the aim of the coalition was "to ensure a good offer beyond the summer, to create more bus and train connections and thus to significantly increase the number of passengers in local public transport in the long term". .
SPD parliamentary secretary Katja Mast made it clear to the newspaper that there should no longer be such a cheap offer as the 9-euro ticket in the future.
"But it's also clear that all of this can't cost just 9 euros in the long term."
mic/dpa-AFX/AFP