Friday 29, September
Another discount transport ticket for Berlin?
The saga of Berlin’s transport ticket continues! Cheap public transport is pretty much the only popular policy any politician has come up with recently and – having found a good thing, now they just can’t stop. In addition for Germany’s federal €49 ticket, Berlin’s €29 ticket is returning – though it will only be to the AB zones.
The €29 ticket will cover transport within the Berlin city area (meaning that you’d still need to buy a C zone extension ticket to get to the airport for example). Unlike the €49 ticket (aka Deutschlandticket), this €29 version won’t give you access to all public transport across Germany. Also you’ve got a while to wait – the €29 ticket is likely to come in in summer of 2024.
But is this a good thing? Not everyone thinks so. The Greens and the left party have criticised the decision, saying that it is a short term move which excludes Brandenburg and will lead to the “cannibalisation” of both the €29 and €49 offer. In fact, there is something of a question mark over the Deutschlandticket anyway, since the government signalled recently that starting next year, it would need to be entirely funded on a state level. Can Berlin afford both?
