The first month after the introduction of the 9-euro ticket is over. What are the consequences in Thuringia? And in which regions is it particularly used here?
Erfurt/Saalfeld (dpa/th) – In the first month with the 9-euro ticket, the buses and trains in Thuringia were used more, according to the Verkehrsverbund Mittelthüringen (VMT). “It’s full in the vehicles,” said Managing Director Christoph Heuing. The trains in particular would be used much more than before. However, this mainly affects the routes between larger cities and excursion regions on the weekends. In Erfurt and Jena, for example, the regional offers are currently being better used. In rural areas, however, the cheap ticket is hardly used in everyday life.
The 9-euro ticket is valid for June, July and August nationwide on all buses, trams, subways, S-Bahn and local and regional trains – regardless of whether they are from Deutsche Bahn or other providers. The long-distance traffic of Deutsche Bahn with ICE, Intercity and Eurocity cannot be used. On the one hand, the tickets are intended to relieve consumers financially in view of the high inflation and, on the other hand, to make public transport more attractive.
In the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district and in the Saale-Orla district in southern Thuringia, for example, queues formed in front of the service center of the public transport company Kombus about a month ago. Around 12,000 tickets were sold here until recently; most of them in the city triangle Rudolstadt, Saalfeld, Bad Blankenburg. In the more rural regions, the offer is simply not enough to generate new passengers with the cheap ticket, said company spokeswoman Cornelia Bergner. A significant increase in passengers can only be noticed in the hiking buses that head for local recreation areas. These are “well filled”.
The VMT hopes that the three months with the 9-euro ticket will trigger a nationwide expansion of the offer. “Public transport urgently needs to be equipped in a completely different way than has been the case so far,” said Heuing.
The ticket for June expires on Thursday. The discounted bus and train ticket is only valid for the calendar month in which it was purchased. So if you bought a ticket for June for 9 euros and want to continue driving at this condition, you have to buy a new one for July; and later also for August. Otherwise, ticket inspections will result in fines from July 1st.
