Travel Patterns after the Deutschlandticket: A Combined Tracking and Survey Approach

Abstract

The Deutschlandticket, introduced in May 2023, offers unlimited travel on all regional public transport in Germany for 49€ per month. This paper provides an overview of how the intro-duction of the ticket influenced travel behaviour and mode choice based on the GIM Traces panel, a nationwide representative dataset combining GPS tracking data and survey re-sponses. The data, consisting of almost 4 million trips and 3,000 participants between April and December 2023, reveal that the impact of the Deutschlandticket on public transport usage is small, if existent at all. Certain groups of participants, such as those travelling in urban envi-ronments, and types of trips, such as those with a distance below 30km, show minor increases in public transport usage with the introduction of the ticket. In addition, the data show that the ticket’s lower price point compared to previous monthly tickets makes it attractive for a large share of regular public transport users. Overall, the analysis finds that seasonal fluctua-tions as well as availability and reliability of public transport have at least as much of an impact on public transport usage as the introduction of the Deutschlandticket.