Germany: 250,000 sales in 3 days for the unlimited transport package at 49 euros per month

Unlimited rail passes are on the rise in Europe. After Austria or Luxembourg, Germany launches its “Deutschlandticket” on May 1st.

This package allows unlimited travel on the entire public transport network and regional trains except the main lines for 49 euros per month.

And the travelers are there. According Bild Am SonntagDemand is huge as 250,000 tickets were purchased on Deutsche Bahn alone, the German equivalent of the SNCF, during the first three days of pre-sale.

The incumbent operator believes that this success is just the beginning: “We expect around six million people across the country to sign up for a local transport subscription for the first time with Deutschlandticket,” says Evelyn Palla, Managing Director of Regional Transport at Deutsche Bahn. .

Is one in 5 Germans ultimately affected?

“In addition, there are approximately eleven million passengers already using a subscription who will likely switch to the new service. This represents a total of 17 million users, ”he continues. In the long term, one in five Germans will use this monthly package.

incite to take public transport instead of the car it is now the goal of all governments to reduce the carbon footprint of cars and these packages are a lever to achieve this.

It is also about preserving the purchasing power of consumers in a context of galloping inflation.

Remember that this “Deutschlandticket” is the continuation of the popular monthly subscription at 9 euros in German public transport, experienced from June to September 2022 that sold 52 million copies.

Its use for three months saved 1.8 million tons of CO2 emissions according to official data. 10% of users indicated that they had given up at least one trip per week usually made by car, according to the association, which carried out a study asking 6,000 people per week.

The other side of the coin, if unlimited favors the modal shift towards trains, puts the German network to the test because many regional trains are often overcrowded while aging infrastructure causes many delays.