Germany’s flat-rate public transport ticket on shaky financial ground – associations

Germany’s government cabinet agreed on a draft law to continue to fund part of the country’s nationwide public transport ticket in 2026, but transport associations and the states have warned that the commitment is not enough to secure its long-term success.

Germany’s “Deutschlandticket” allows passengers to use all regional and local public transport across the country, currently for a monthly price of 58 euros. To finance it, the cabinet pledged to provide 1.5 billion euros for next year. So far, the federal and state governments have provided a yearly 1.5 billion euros subsidy each to compensate local public transport companies for the lost revenue and cover cost incurred.

However, over 3.6 billion euros per year are needed, according to the Association of German Cities (Deutscher Städtetag). “Under the current draft law, the ticket remains a temporary measure and the additional costs have not yet been accounted for,” the association wrote in a press release. “Since the introduction of the Deutschlandticket, its financing has been on shaky ground,” the association’s head Christian Schuchardt said.

The states “will have to choose between paying more or raising prices again,” said Kerstin Haarmann, chairwoman of the transport and environmental association VCD. “The states do not want the former, and the latter would have disastrous consequences,” she said, referring to a drop in subscriptions when the ticket’s price was last increased.

The VCD called for the government to enshrine the ticket in law on a permanent basis and reliably settle the distribution of costs between the federal government and the states. It also called for the introduction of a lower-priced ticket for young people and low-income earners. “Mobility should not be a luxury – it must be universally accessible so that everyone can participate in society,” Haarmann said.

In their coalition agreement, the conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democrats (SPD) pledged to extend the Deutschlandticket beyond 2025. The ticket resulted in an increase in regional train travel and was credited with reducing Germany’s transport emissions by nearly five percent in the year after its introduction.