The financing of the Deutschland-ticket from next year is still unclear. The transport ministers of the federal states confirmed in a joint resolution on Friday that they do not want to contribute any further funds to maintain the ticket apart from the 1.5 billion euros per year promised so far.
The federal government has decided not to increase the price of the ticket until 2029, said Petra Berg (SPD), Saarland's transport minister. “For us states, this means that the federal government will then also have to bear the additional costs.”
Bavaria's representative Christian Bernreiter (CSU) also emphasized that the federal states had not had a say in the coalition agreement. If the price is now to remain stable, it is “the task of the Federal Minister of Finance to ensure this”.
The CDU/CSU and SPD had agreed to continue the Deutschland-ticket “beyond 2025”. Prices are not to increase until 2029 - then “the proportion of user financing will be increased gradually and in a socially responsible manner”, according to the agreement. The ticket currently costs 58 euros per month.
In the years 2023 to 2025, the federal states and the federal government will each pay 1.5 billion euros for the D-Ticket to compensate for the loss of revenue for transport companies. Both the federal and state governments have also pledged this amount for the coming year. “But three billion will not be enough,” said Bernreiter. And anything beyond that will have to be covered by the federal government.
Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) had already rejected this before the meeting on Friday. "The federal government is prepared to provide a subsidy of 1.5 billion euros for 2026," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. "I don't see any more leeway in view of the tight budget situation and the savings targets in the federal budget."
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