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To help people deal with record inflation, this summer Germany offered a sharply discounted fare for local and regional public transit. Was the project a success? It depends on what you wanted out of it.

Between June and August, people could use all local and regional transport in Germany for just €9 a month

The public-transportation ticketing system in Germany is so complicated, that there's even a song about it. In "Out of Bempflingen," the Swabian a cappella group "Chor der Mönche" (Choir of Monks) sing of their struggles crossing the no man's land between two of the country's regional transport networks.

"No one's at the desk/Where's a ticket machine?/Getting a ticket from Metzingen to Bempflingen isn't easy," the German group sings of the towns in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg just five kilometers (3.1 miles) apart from each other.

Unable to figure out what ticket to buy, they throw in the towel and walk instead. "It's actually a true story," Michael Niedhammer, one of the band members, told DW. 

This summer, things were different. August 31 marks the end of Germany's 3-month experiment with ultracheap, streamlined public-transportation ticketing. Rather than navigating Germany's 60+ tariff and transport networks, from June to August people could travel nationwide on all local and regional buses and trains (long-distance trains were excluded) with a single ticket. The price? Just €9 ($9) a month.

With the 9-euro ticket, passengers could use one ticket to travel through all 60+ transit and tariff systems in Germany

The measure, which German magazine Der Spiegel described as "the largest experiment Germany has ever undertaken on its local public transport system," took people by surprise. The federal government announced it in March as part of a relief package developed to help consumers deal with record-high inflation.

Quick decisions are a rarity in German politics. Major policy moves generally follow long negotiation periods and lengthy consultations with experts and stakeholders.

The 9-euro ticket was an exception, taking even the transportation companies by surprise. As the pilot project wraps up on Wednesday, many are reflecting on the whirlwind summer and whether the nationwide ticket was a success.

"That depends on the goal. What was the goal of the project?" Jonathan Laser, senior consultant at civity Management Consultants, a Berlin-based management consulting firm specialized in the public sector, told DW. "If it was to ease the financial burden of citizens, I would say yes. If the goal was marketing [public transportation], that’s also a yes. But if the goal was sustainability, I would say no."

The white dream beaches of the North Sea island of Sylt attract hundreds of thousands of vacationers every year. Most of them are well-heeled, because Sylt is one of the most expensive vacation destinations in Germany. With the 9-euro ticket, at least the journey was possible at a bargain price.

However, with the advent of the 9-euro ticket, the island of the rich and beautiful was virtually swamped by people with smaller wallets. The invasion of a rather atypical public made headlines: Punks and other groups critical of consumerism besieged downtown Westerland — much to the chagrin of the clientele who normally stroll here.

In the greater Hamburg area, the 9-euro ticket has proved a sales hit: More than 1.8 million tickets were sold in the first two months. Many people from the surrounding area took advantage of the opportunity to travel cheaply to check out the sights of the Hanseatic city, such as the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. According to a survey, this saved more than four million car journeys.

As in many other regions of Germany, according to the Rhineland-Palatinate Tourist Board, many day tourists used the 9-euro ticket for excursions to the state's sights. No doubt a large number of them admired Trier Cathedral, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein in Bavaria has always been a magnet for visitors. But as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the flow of visitors dried up here, too. The 9-euro ticket came at just the right time and boosted visitor numbers. Tegernsee and Chiemsee or Hohenschwangau Castle were also among the 9-euro winners in Bavaria.

In Saxon Switzerland, too, tourist attractions recorded an increase in visitor numbers thanks to the 9-euro ticket. Pictured here is the Bastei Bridge, where thousands of tourists explore the spectacular natural landscape, many of them on a day trip.

In rural areas it's better to be independently mobile because, like here in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, trains rarely run. Environmental associations are therefore calling for greater support for local public transport in rural regions and the expansion of the route network. According to a study, 55 million Germans outside the metropolitan regions are without adequate public transportation.

Historic trains like the seaside train "Molli" in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania experienced an influx of visitors thanks to the 9-euro ticket. Operators say passenger numbers increased significantly during the three-month period. The same applies to the Harz narrow-gauge trains, which are already popular with tourists, and the "Rasender Roland" (Rushing Roland) steam train on the island of Rügen.

The 9-euro ticket was particularly popular with weekend travellers. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in June, the first month of the special offer, the use of regional and local trains was 83% higher on Sundays and 61% higher on Saturdays than before the COVID-19 pandemic. As here in Stralsund, this led to high capacity use of trains and crowding at the station.

Maintaining the 9-euro fare seems unrealistic at the moment. A majority of Germans would like to see a service that applies to all tariff areas nationwide — and would pay more for it. Metropolitan areas such as Erfurt would then certainly continue to attract many tourists, while rural regions would probably lose out without an expansion of local public transportation.

Over 52 million tickets were sold over the three-month period, according to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV). An additional 10 million people received the discount automatically via preexisting subscriptions to local transportation networks. Such subscriptions cost around €80 a month in major German cities, according to ADAC, Germany's largest motorists' association. Over the three summer months, these travelers automatically saved over €200.

The deal also pulled in many new passengers. According to a VDV survey, 15% of 9-euro ticket users said that without the special price they wouldn't have taken the trips that they did.

"Millions of people living off of pensions, state welfare or low salaries are normally denied [the luxury of travel]," Ulrich Schneider, CEO of the Paritätischer Gesamtverband — a social work and welfare association — wrote in an opinion essay. "And they will be denied it again when this ticket offer expires."

The rate of inflation in Germany also went down slightly during the experiment, an effect the country's statistics office attributed in part to the low fare.

But that news was perhaps of little comfort to hot and tired passengers, who daily took to social media this summer to share horror stories of overfilled trains, broken air conditioning and hourslong delays.

For years, proponents of train and bus travel have complained that Germany has underinvested in this public service. In a country better known abroad for its Autobahn highways and manufacturing Porsches and Mercedes, late and crowded trains had started becoming the norm even before the low-cost ticket was introduced.

The federal government provided Germany's regional 16 states with an additional €2.5 billion to compensate for the loss of ticket sales due to the project. That figure did not include funding for added capacity, personnel or upkeep to cater to the increased demand. With states like Saxony-Anhalt reporting up to three times as many passengers as usual on certain train lines this summer, the chronic underinvestment was thrown into sharp relief.

"The 9-euro ticket has cast a spotlight on the problems with regional transportation," said Ralf Damde, the head of the general works council at DB Regio, a regional subsidiary of Germany's national railway operator Deutsche Bahn. "There are not enough staff and especially too few vehicles to absorb the increase in passenger numbers in the future," he told RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), which is the joint corporate newsroom of Germany's Madsack Media Group.

Passengers complained that trains were overfilled and often didn't run on schedule

Critics of the discounted ticket say the money would be better spent on developing said infrastructure.

"We need every additional euro to expand and improve the service so that local public transport can become a mobility alternative suitable for everyday use," said Reinhard Sager, president of the Association of German Districts, dpa news agency reported.

Despite the uncomfortable travel conditions, as the project winds down, many are advocating for the low rate to be extended, particularly in light of the country's recent failure to meet its carbon reduction targets.

Some 10% of the approximately 1 billion monthly journeys taken using the 9-euro ticket replaced the use of a car, according to VDV figures. This prevented around 1.8 million tons of CO2 from going into atmosphere during the campaign period, the association said in a press release. 

"The solution is obviously not to make public transport less attractive again," one user wrote in a discussion on the social platform Reddit. "But to fix/build the required infrastructure."

Politicians are debating if a next-generation ticket is in the cards and how much it might cost. civity's Laser says price is only part of the story. The project also showed the value of having a streamlined ticketing system.

"We can talk about price, but we should also talk about how complex it is to buy a ticket," he said. "Do we have to have this many different tariff systems to get a price? Or can we make it easier?"

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

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