Transport sheet T.05
Buses, trams, underground railways and regional trains are organised locally and funded from several levels at once. The federal minister does not run them, but he co-finances them, co-decides the price of the Deutschlandticket and is held to account when they fail. This sheet explains the arrangement and documents what Steffen Bilger has said and done on it since 29 July 2026.
€66.80per month from 1 January 2027
Responsibility
Local public transport is known in German as ÖPNV (öffentlicher Personennahverkehr). Under the Basic Law and the laws of the Länder it is a task of the Länder and of the counties and cities, which act as "transport authorities" (Aufgabenträger) that plan and order services.
Pays the Länder Regionalisierungsmittel from federal tax revenue (Article 106a of the Basic Law), shared out by the "Kiel key" of population and ordered train-kilometres. Funds infrastructure through the GVFG programme, around €2.08 billion planned for 2027. Pays €1.5 billion a year towards the Deutschlandticket.
Order regional rail services, often through tenders that private operators can win. Pass on funds, set the legal framework for local transport, and pay a further €1.5 billion a year for the Deutschlandticket. Their transport ministers set its price together in the Conference of Transport Ministers (VMK).
Plan bus, tram and U-Bahn networks, timetables and stops; own or contract the operators; and run fare associations (Verkehrsverbünde) that sell tickets across operators.
Municipal companies, DB Regio and private operators run the services; around 14.5 million people held a Deutschlandticket in spring 2026.
Because one level runs the services and several levels pay for them, funding is negotiated repeatedly between the federal government and the Länder. The eleventh amendment to the Regionalisation Act, enacted in November 2025 before Bilger took office, fixed the federal and state contributions to the Deutschlandticket at €1.5 billion each per year up to 2030. See also regional connectivity.
Section A — the Deutschlandticket
The Deutschlandticket is a monthly subscription valid on all local and regional public transport in Germany. It introduced one national price for local and regional transport when it started in May 2023 at €49 a month.
The price has risen three times since: to €58 in 2025, €63 in 2026 and, from 1 January 2027, €66.80. The latest rise is the first under a price index agreed by the transport ministers in Lindau in March 2026, which ties the price to costs, notably staff and energy. Consumer advocates criticised the index as building in automatic rises (see below).
After the decision Bilger said the ticket remained „weiterhin ein sehr attraktives Angebot" ("still a very attractive offer", translation; epd, 30 September 2026). Two weeks earlier he had told the Berliner Morgenpost that price adjustments were „nötig, um das Verkehrsangebot beizubehalten" ("necessary to maintain the service", translation; 14 September 2026).
The decision was taken jointly by the federal and state transport ministers under the index agreed before Bilger took office. With public subsidies fixed at €3 billion a year, rising costs fall on fares or on services. Interpretation: Bilger's Morgenpost remark puts maintaining services ahead of holding the price.
Warned of an „automatisierte Preisspirale" ("automated price spiral", translation).
Ramona Pop, Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv)
„Öffentlicher Nahverkehr ist gesellschaftliche Teilhabe." ("Public transport is social participation", translation.)
Jürgen Resch, Deutsche Umwelthilfe
Called the rise „schade für den Erfolg dieses revolutionären Tickets" ("a pity for the success of this revolutionary ticket", translation).
Oliver Krischer (Greens), transport minister of North Rhine-Westphalia
Pointed out that the price has risen by 37% since 2023.
Greenpeace
All four reactions as reported by epd on 30 September 2026; about 15 million subscribers are affected.
Beyond the ticket
Smaller items from Bilger's first weeks that touch public transport. They are announcements and talks, not completed outcomes.
DB abolished its family seat reservation in June 2025; a petition against the change gathered more than 128,000 signatures. On 13 September 2026 the Stuttgarter Zeitung reported Bilger as saying the abolition rightly caused a lot of dissatisfaction, and: Wir sind mit der Bahn dazu im Gespräch.
("We are in talks with DB about it", translation.) No outcome had been announced by 8 October 2026.
On 31 August 2026 the ministry opened a programme of up to €14 million for vehicles with autonomous driving functions in regular service, with a focus on public transport and road freight. Municipalities, transport authorities, operators and fare associations can apply between 1 September and 15 October 2026 for buying, converting or leasing vehicles. Bilger: Autonomes Fahren bietet die Chance, Mobilität neu zu denken.
("Autonomous driving offers the chance to rethink mobility", translation.)
The Municipal Transport Financing Act (GVFG) funds major local infrastructure such as new tram lines, S-Bahn extensions and station upgrades. The 2027 draft budget contains around €2.08 billion for it. GVFG projects are also listed in the federal Infraplan published on 6 October 2026. See infrastructure investment.
DB Regio recorded 989 assaults on staff in the first half of 2026. Bilger: Sicherheit im Zug ist kein Randthema.
("Safety on trains is not a side issue", translation; 10 August 2026.) See transport safety.