The €9 pass (equivalent to around £7.80) was introduced as an experiment over the summer in a bid to entice people to use public transport and help tackle rising inflation. The decision on the new Deutschland Ticket came after a meeting between the federal government and the leadership of Germany’s 16 states to determine who would cover the cost of the subsidized ticket and how expensive it should be. Transport experts welcomed the news, which follows months of controversy over the successor to the €9 pass, whose progress has been tracked by transport watchers around the world and spawned a series of analytical studies. However, representatives of charities and social welfare institutions described the new ticket as a gift to the middle classes, especially commuters, and warned that the price would run into the millions. Climate advocates said they feared the price would not be low enough to lure people out of their cars and said the poor state of rural services would make it difficult for many people to switch to public transport. Michaela Engelmeier, president of the German Social Union, a lobby group, said while she welcomed the ticket decision, she believed many people would not be able to afford it. “We stand by our position that the €49 ticket will not be affordable for everyone, which is why we continue to push for a €365 ticket per year.” Individual states can decide whether or not to introduce means-tested price categories. After the €9 ticket expired, Berlin initially decided to go it alone and agreed on its own €29 ticket, which could be bought with a subscription from October onwards, but is only valid for Berlin and is , initially, until the end of March. Meanwhile, cyclists said their needs were often neglected in negotiations. ADFC, a lobby group representing the interests of cyclists, wants bikes to be allowed on trains for free as part of the journey ticket price, rather than people paying an additional bike fee. The new ticket is expected to cost around €3bn in taxpayer subsidies and will be split equally between the federal government and the states. It could be presented as early as January. Stefan Carsten, an urban geographer and futurist who writes an annual mobility report for a Berlin think tank, said he saw the new ticket as a step in the right direction, but said it was deeply flawed. Carsten told Der Spiegel: “We are at least on the road to a social, sustainable, inclusive transport system. There are some dominoes in Europe that have already fallen in this direction, such as in Luxembourg where public transport is now free. “In Luxembourg, the ‘free’ ticket is the icing on the cake. But in Germany we don’t even have the cake. In order to have an attractive transport system we need a rethink in terms of offers in rural and suburban areas.’ He said there should be more shared thinking between all modes of mobility, from carpooling services to the ability to carry bicycles on trains. “The €9 ticket has at least sparked a conversation going in the right direction,” he said.