Next year, Germany's Deutschlandticket will cost 58 euros

That’s because the state has to spend money on updating the railway infrastructure rather than subsidizing the cost of the popular pass

After months of bickering and speculation on the topic, it is now official – Germany’s popular public transport pass, known as Deutschlandticket will become more expensive from 1 January 2025. The new price of the monthly pass allowing access to local and regional buses and trains throughout the country will be raised to 58 euros.

The current price of 49 euros will be in place until the end of the year, as agreed by the transport officials of the federal and state governments, however, it has been deemed unsustainable in the long term.

"The agreement at the special conference of transport ministers shows that the states want to hold on to the successful Deutschlandticket model and develop it further," said Oliver Krischer, Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, quoted by dpa news agency.

Krischer made the announcement from the position of the chairman of the conference of German transport ministers. In his view, the price increase would actually ensure the continuing existence of the monthly pass because it would stabilize its financing model.

Economic dilemma

Ever since its launch in May 2023, the Deutschlandticket has proven to be a pioneering and massively popular product on the public transport landscape not only in Germany but also in Europe, as other countries have looked to it as a possible good practice to implement locally.

Around 13 million people across Germany currently use the Deutschlandticket yet not long after its launch, there were already concerns about whether this could be sustainable going forward far into the future.

As the transport companies were suffering high revenue losses due to the cheaper service, there was a need for strong government intervention and support to prop up the scheme. The federal and state governments had originally agreed to each compensate for this by half. 

The problem is the federal government has not been able to guarantee extra funding for 2025, in part because the railway infrastructure in Germany needs an upgrade and ensuring such an upgrade has become a priority. It wouldn’t make much sense to have a cheap ticket if there are constant train delays reducing the quality of the service.