7 million Germany tickets already sold

The 49-euro ticket, now called the Deutschlandticket, has been available for purchase since the beginning of April 2023. Since May 1st, the ticket subscription has been valid nationwide for journeys on local and regional buses and trains.

Despite all the criticism of the 9-euro ticket successor and the bumpy start last Monday, the 49-euro ticket has already sold seven million times. Two million people who have taken out a corresponding Deutschlandticket subscription did not previously have a subscription for local public transport.

“The good start of advance sales has been confirmed in the last few weeks,” summarizes Ingo Wortmann, President of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), in one communication. Accordingly, the demand for the Germany ticket is at a “constantly high level”.

In the first three days after the start of advance sales, Deutsche Bahn alone reported 250,000 tickets sold. It should be at the end of April (as of April 25, 2023). to have been around 750,000.

The VDV expects up to six million new subscribers in the coming weeks. There are also another eleven million regular customers. According to the VDV forecast, these will switch from their current subscriptions to the cheaper Deutschlandticket.

Of course, the successor cannot keep up with the run on the 9‑euro ticket last year. In just two days after the start of sales, around one million tickets were sold – via the digital sales channels alone. A total of around 52 million €9 tickets were sold in the summer of 2022.

In addition to the low price, the popularity of the cheap ticket is also due to the possibility of being able to buy the ticket without restrictions. The 49-euro ticket, on the other hand, comes in the form of a subscription for people living in Germany. After all, the subscription can be canceled monthly.

In contrast to the 9-euro ticket, the Germany ticket is to be primarily sold online. Until the end of the year, you can still buy the ticket in paper form with a QR code.

According to the VDV, more than half of the tickets have been ordered by smartphone. The other half is to be issued in the form of chip cards. And here is the next problem.

Due to delays in obtaining such cards, there are currently long waiting times when ordering a Deutschlandticket chip card. VDV President Wortmann attributes this to “the semiconductor crisis, the high demand for chips from many sectors and the war in Ukraine”.

In addition, long queues are said to have formed at the transport companies’ sales and service points in the past few days Time online writes. At least at the start on May 1st, things didn’t look much better online either. Probably due to the onslaught, the Deutsche Bahn servers collapsed.

Throughout the day it was not or hardly possible to order a Germany ticket. The success – despite the high price, the subscription type and the queues – proves the introduction of the discounted ticket right in any case.