The Economic Impact of the 9-Euro-Ticket

It offered a significant simplification of the country’s many regional fare systems and also reduced the cost of mobility in general. However, the positive effects were limited by the fact that car travel, the dominant mode of transport, was also subsidised over the same period. This, together with the limited timeframe of the special offer, meant that few motorists could be persuaded to make a long-term commitment to public transport. The lowering of the energy tax and the introduction of the 9-Euro-Ticket failed to induce an uptick in mobility in the full year 2022. Temporarily, however, the use of rail transport increased dramatically and there was a moderate decline in light vehicle traffic on the roads. There was a noticeable rise in the number of short excursions, for which there was a partial shift from private car to public transport. While distances travelled and pedestrian traffic in major cities grew, this was not reflected in the number of overnight stays or real turnover in city centre retail and hospitality, albeit these effects may have been masked by last year’s generally high inflation. The imminent introduction of a successor to the 9-Euro-Ticket offers the prospect of an increase in the use of public transport by commuters and for weekend excursions and this will require substantial investment in the relevant infrastructure.