How expensive, or cheap, is the public transport system (ÖPNV) in Germany? Where is the cheapest day pass, where do students go for free, where is the dog in the train extra and where are bicycles prohibited? The consumer portal Testberichte.de has compared the offers of the transport companies of all state capitals as well as cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants. Especially in East German cities one drives accordingly comparatively cheap, most often Potsdam in the different categories on the front places.
Single tickets: Hamburg almost twice as expensive as Schwerin
In Schwerin and Mannheim, an adult pays only 1.80 euros for a single ticket, followed by Potsdam and Erfurt with 2.10 euros each. The most expensive is this ticket in Hamburg and Münster, each with 3.30 euros, closely followed by Lübeck and Nuremberg, each with 3.20 euros. For day tickets Potsdam is front with 4.20 euros. More than twice as expensive is a day long bus and train ride in Lübeck. The Hanseatic city arrives at 9.60 the strongest.
The testers have also compared the monthly maps of the cities, here the price comparison is based on an adult with annual subscription and monthly payment. The cheapest is the monthly ticket in Potsdam with a price of 34.50 euros, before Magdeburg (43.21 euros) and Schwerin (44.23 euros). Hamburg is again the most expensive here. There, the monthly subscription costs € 89.50.
Especially for occasional public transport users, however, it is crucial when the monthly ticket pays off in comparison to the single ticket. In Münster, this is particularly fast, there the time ticket has paid for itself after 15 journeys. In contrast, the monthly ticket in Mannheim pays off only after 36 trips. This is mainly due to the federal government's heavily subsidized single ticket, which will cost 1.80 instead of 2.60 euros by the end of 2020. Because Mannheim is one of five model cities, in which measures such as discounted tickets to improve the air quality. If you look at all cities together, it pays to buy a monthly ticket for adults after an average of 23 trips.
Cheap tickets do not necessarily make local transport more attractive
Cheaper fare as in Mannheim make the public transport but not necessarily attractive. Because the price is not crucial for the success of local transport, explains mobility researcher Andreas Knie of the Berlin Science Center: "Even if the entire current public transport would be free, the number of passengers would only increase by about five to ten percent." According to Knie, this is mainly due to the outdated public transport system that has been outdated in many places: "Public transport was far too long just a system for residual waste for those who do not have a car outside of a few major cities."
But it is not just local transport that needs to change, subsidies also have to be redistributed in the future, according to the mobility researchers, in order to make buses and trains more attractive - and depend on the number of passengers. "Only then do the providers think out better rates and provide more comfort."
Lost in the tariff jungle
Because in the test also the barely comprehensible tariff systems of many cities were noticeable. As a result, the price system in Schwerin is particularly customer-unfriendly. So not only on the website of the Schweriner Verkehrsbetriebe missing any reference to the refund option of the student monthly pass, also the discount system for the subscription of adult monthly pass is the most complicated of all cities studied.
"The tariff systems are a torture tool of the early 20th century, from which the public transport has never come out," criticizes mobility researcher Andreas Knie. According to the test, the system is a bit simpler in Stuttgart, where the operator has made two zones without increasing prices. For many passengers, this means a significant reduction in travel costs. Simplifications of tariff systems are also planned in Munich and Hanover.
The price is not crucial
"Good public transport must have the simplest possible tariff area," says Andreas Knie. But "dividing zones alone does not help". A good public transport needs a good overall network, which makes the abandonment of the car easy, explains Knie - and automatic payment by mobile phone when entering and exiting via mobile phone.
But local transport is far from that in many places. It was not even possible to buy a classic ticket by mobile phone in all of the cities surveyed. This option is missing in Lübeck and Kiel. In others, buying a ticket with a smartphone is comparatively easy. Thus passengers in Bremen, Frankfurt, Halle, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mainz, Potsdam and Wiesbaden can solve the ticket by mobile phone also without registration. Karlsruhe even offers three different apps for mobile phone tickets.
Berlin and Rostock offer a free student month ticket
Without a mobile ticket, but for free students drive in two of the tested cities, since August they get their monthly pass in Berlin and Rostock for free. In other cities, according to the testers, the costs are reimbursed in full or in part, at least retrospectively, if students live at least two to four kilometers from the school or have a dangerous way to school.
more on the subject
The price of a single ticket for children in the cities studied was between 1.10 euros in Schwerin and two euros in Saarbrücken. According to testberichte.de applies this tariff in most cities for children from six to 14 years (in Kassel to 17 years, in Dresden, Chemnitz and Leipzig from enrollment).
Dogs drive in half of the cities studied for free, elsewhere for the four-legged friends additionally 1.30 euros (Hanover, Stuttgart) to two euros (Dresden, Saarbrücken) due. Bicycles may only be taken in Chemnitz, Frankfurt, Kassel, Mainz and Wiesbaden and Mainz without any additional ticket.
