The German government is yet to figure out how it is going to fund the 49-euro Deutschlandticket in the coming years, and now state transport ministers are warning that a solution must be found soon to ensure the scheme can continue.

Transport ministers uncertain about fate of the 49-euro ticket

In the run-up to the 49-euro Deutschlandticket finally becoming valid on May 1, transport ministers for Germany’s 16 states and federal government fought over how the ticket should be funded in the long term; how much money should come from the state governments versus the federal government. 

The ticket has now sold 11 million times and the funding debate is bubbling up again, after a letter from Greens transport minister for North Rhine-Westphalia Oliver Krischer to federal transport minister Volker Wissing was published by Süddeutsche Zeitung.  Krischer wrote that without the government bodies coming to an agreement, “the federal states believe that a continuation of the Deutschlandticket, or at least its widespread use, would be in serious danger.”

As it stands, the plan is that each state and the federal government will provide 1,5 billion euros in funding for each year until 2025, but how additional costs will be covered remains the point of contention.

Volker Wissing accused of passing the buck

Speaking to Süddeutsche Zeitung, Greens transport minister for Baden-Württemberg Winfried Hermann accused Wissing of passing the buck when it comes to sourcing the funding for his own policy.

“The future of the Deutschlandticket is uncertain,” Hermann told the newspaper, “The federal government and, most importantly, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing must finally commit to a project that he initiated and bear half the costs of the Deutschlandticket in the coming years.”

Responding to the comments published in the southern German newspaper, the Transport Ministry said that the fraught discussion had been made even more difficult due to “a tight budget situation” but that the ministry was in close contact with the states and transport industry.

Thumb image credit: ON-Photography Germany  / Shutterstock.com