Europe: The government of Germany is introducing a 9-Euro-Ticket, which will allow the Germans to use public transport all over the entire nation for about €9 per month until the end of summer. In a push to counter the increasing cost of living.
The offer is valid on all of the local and regional metros, trams, buses, and trains in Germany and on ferries (including in Berlin of Hamburg) for June, July and August 2022.
The Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing shared the information, “It is a success in the truest sense of the word, a box office hit” Moreover, adding that over seven million tickets have already been sold.
“The initiative has been well received,” he highlighted. “People have really embraced it.”
Along with this, while long-distance intercity trains, as well as private providers such as Thalys, FlixTrain or FlixBus, are not included in the cheap tickets, it is also possible to cross Germany using regional trains, albeit more slowly.
The tickets cost €9 per month for all travellers from the age of 6 and are valid for the duration or month in which it was purchased. Young ones under six travel free of charge as well as do not require their own ticket.
The country’s reduced fuel tax has brought petrol prices back down to below €2 per litre, but fuel is still expensive, and the cheap public transport tickets have the objective of getting individuals to leave their car at home.
Meanwhile, the nation’s rail company Deutsche Bahn has already been struggling with overcrowding, delays and cancellations recently, and the prospect of millions of extra passengers has prompted criticism of the plan.
Furthermore, Wissing himself had warned of “heavy congestion” at certain times of day – particularly with the upcoming long weekend in mind, but no major rail problems were recorded in the hours after the scheme came into effect on Wednesday.
