Many consumers are currently faced with the question of whether to buy a Germany ticket. In a market check, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) examined how well transport companies and associations provide information on their websites about the D-Ticket and the conditions for purchasing new tickets and changing existing local transport subscriptions. The results show that the information available is often insufficient and makes purchasing this ticket more difficult.     

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“The Deutschlandticket is intended to make local transport easier and get more people on buses and trains. However, this will not succeed if the transport companies and associations provide important information for customers insufficiently or not at all on their websites. In addition to a price offensive, it is also time for a transparency offensive for the Deutschlandticket. The providers absolutely have to make improvements,” says Ramona Pop, board member of the vzbv.

The market check shows that an easy-to-understand overview of the differences in services between current local transport subscriptions and Deutschlandticket is largely missing (in 10 of 15 providers examined). This makes it unnecessarily difficult to make an informed decision about which subscription is better. In addition, existing customers must check carefully whether their subscription will be changed automatically or whether they have to take action themselves.

Particularly confusing: Even with the same provider, both variants can be possible. The majority of the websites examined (11 out of 15) also lack clear information about how advance payments for existing subscriptions will be handled when switching to the Deutschlandticket.

Consumer trap online ticket

The results are alarming when it comes to purchasing the Germany ticket at counters or customer centers. Some providers (5 out of 15) explicitly exclude this possibility, others (4 out of 15) do not provide any clear information about it. In these cases, passengers who cannot or do not want to buy the D-Ticket online are at a disadvantage.

“The Deutschlandticket must be easy and flexible for everyone to purchase – even without a smartphone or internet. Instead of a ticket for everyone, politicians and the local transport industry have created such high hurdles that consumers risk being left out. The online ticket, which has been favored from the start, threatens to become a problem for many consumers and the compulsory subscription becomes a boomerang. Nobody should be excluded,” says Ramona Pop.

Source:

VZVB

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