Germany's €9 fare came to an end Wednesday, with over 52 million tickets sold and used for over a billion trips over the summer. The Association of German Transport Companies declared the experience a "complete success."
In addition to the tickets sold, the fare, good for a month for all local and regional transport in the country, applied to 10 million passengers who already had monthly tickets. The fare was sold for June, for July and August, and there are widespread calls, including from the transit agencies, for some kind of low-cost follow-on
The low fare was designed both as a relief from high prices due to inflation and a way to lure people out of cars and onto public transport, both to reduce emissions and to conserve fuel in the face of the ongoing shortages resulting from Russia's war on Ukraine.
Although research is not complete, surveys by a number of agencies indicate that large numbers of people used the ticket to return to the trains, and many indicated they would continue to ride if fares are kept low, even if not as low. The association also estimated that 1.8 million tons of CO2 emissions were saved.
A proposal from the SPD, the largest party in the current government coalition, calls for a €49 monthly fare, as well as other measures to relieve conditions for low-income residents, and that will be debated within the government over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, some regions, including Berlin, are creating extensions of their own, but unlike the national proposals, they only cover transit in one city of region.
Image: Demonstration at a Berlin station for extending the 9-euro ticket
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