Germany's €9 Ticket

For Christmas 2019, I bought Claudia and I concert tickets to see the Pet Shop Boys in Berlin on 1 May 2020.  Then came Covid and the world shut down and the concert was postponed.  Then postponed again.  It's 2022 and we finally get to go see them.  The last time I saw them was back in 2013.  

While I'm in Germany this weekend I'm going to use my new €9 ticket which the government launched this summer to help with the rising energy costs.  For just €9, you can travel, in 2nd class, on all local and regional public transport across the country.  Buses, trams, ferries, U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains, plus local and regional trains.  This is an amazing deal.  

EC and IC trains are excluded so I still need to have a normal ticket from Brno to Berlin.  But once I'm in Germany all of my local travel is covered.  A one-way S-Bahn ticket from the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Friedrichshagen is €3.  The €9 ticket is good for the entire month of June.  It's going to be available in July and August as well so €27 for all three months.  It seems to have already caused a big jump in the number of people using public transportation all across Germany.

I'm on the train now and I'll get to Berlin tonight.  Tomorrow night is the concert at the Mercedes Arena and then it's back to Brno on Sunday because I have a business trip on Monday to Frankfurt.  I'll be able to use my €9 ticket on public transportation there too.  This really is a cool deal.  I wish Czechland did something similar.

December 2022 Update:  I loved my €9 ticket but Germany didn't extend it.  The German states finally agreed on a new country-wide public and regional transportation ticket.  It costs €49 a month it is only available as a monthly subscription.  

Now I just use my BVG (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe) app on my mobile phone.  I can buy 4 one-way tickets (AB zones) for €9,40.  Four individual tickets would cost €12 so it's basically buy 3 and get 1 free.