Disagreement has emerged among the various transport providers operating the Deutschlandticket regarding the level of payment they receive for selling the ticket. According to reports in Spiegel, the operations are continually seeking to secure higher compensation for these sales.
The magazine indicates that the current plan is to raise the incentive payment-known as the “Anreizvergütung”-from up to €2.90 to nearly €3.20 next year. This amount is lower for job and semester tickets. While this increase may seem modest on its own, the overall amount of commissions is set to rise by tens of millions of euros, given that over 170 million tickets have been sold so far.
The biggest beneficiaries of this increased commission are the large ticket sellers, particularly Deutsche Bahn, which reportedly accounts for about 25 to 30 percent of all Deutschlandticket sales through its Navigator app. Oliver Wittke, the CEO of the Rhein-Ruhr Transport Association (VRR), voiced strong criticism of this trend to Spiegel, asserting that the Deutschlandticket must not morph into a “money-printing machine” for a few major distribution platforms. He justified his criticism by pointing out that large companies are able to sell significantly more tickets with relatively less effort.
The CDU politician, who previously served as the mayor of Gelsenkirchen and then as a Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, drew attention to the fact that these distribution incentives ultimately burden the customer. He argued that every euro not spent on such disproportionate sales incentives could be invested in strengthening the core product: reliable and attractive public transport.
The controversial increase in sales incentives is scheduled to be decided next week by the Coordination Council for the Deutschlandticket. This council is composed of representatives from the Federal Ministry of Transport, the Federal Ministry of Finance, and various regional transport ministers. Communal top associations and transport associations participate in the deliberations as advisory members.
As an alternative to increasing the commission for all sold Deutschlandtickets, the VRR has proposed a degressive model. Under this model, the compensation paid to transport operators would gradually decrease after a specific sales threshold. Specifically, the payment would drop by ten percent after 250,000 Deutschlandtickets are sold, by a further ten percent between one and five million sold tickets, and then by a substantial 30 percent. The VRR is receiving support for this proposal from other transport associations.
