First German city to almost cancel 49-euro ticket

The brief crisis stirred up anxiety about the possible end of the public transport scheme

Although last month, the German federal and state governments agreed to continue funding the 49-euro Deutschlandticket pass beyond May 2024, it still remained unclear what the role and responsibilities of local governments will be in this. For the time being, it was decided to finance the public transport benefit with leftovers from the 2023 budget.

It was precisely this uncertainty and lack of standardized clarity that led a small city in the State of Saxony-Anhalt, called Stendal, to announce that it was going to opt out of the pioneering transport pass on its territory due to fears that it wouldn’t be able to finance it.

Death of Deutschlandticket will have to wait

Last week, the Stendal town council declared that it would not accept the Deutschlandticket on the vehicles of its local public transport network from 1 January 2024. Fortunately, things were resolved after the state government assured that there would be enough funding for the town to continue accepting the 49-euro pass.

Had the opt-out of Stendal occurred, this would have made it the first local authority in Germany to cancel the pass and turn back the successful, albeit difficult, story of the revolutionary transport scheme.

The Stendal case became quite notable and stirred anxiety in German society that it could lead to a domino effect and bring about the “death of the Deutschlandticket”. The 49-euro pass, which grants access to all local and regional public transit networks, has been warmly adopted by the commuting public, however, the question of financing it looks set to remain a thorny issue for the foreseeable future.

The states must oblige the districts to use the Deutschlandticket and thus also assume the responsibilities of financing it," declared Reinhard Sager, President of The Association of German Districts (DLT), as quoted by IAmExpat.de.

For the time being, only the state of Thuringia has obliged all its municipalities to offer the Deutschlandticket.