With just over a week remaining until the €49 monthly Deutschlandticket comes online around the country on May 1st, sales of subscriptions have skyrocketed.
Passengers can buy the ticket, which entitles the holder to travel on any local and regional public transport around the country – but exempts long-distance trains – from local and regional providers or directly from Germany’ state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn.
The ticket can only be purchased though as a monthly subscription, and is only usable by the person named on the ticket. Would-be passengers can buy it for a month by purchasing a subscription and then simply cancelling it for the month they leave Germany – for example – if they are just visiting Germany.
But many associations that you can buy a ticket from – including Berlin’s BVG – may require a European bank account to direct debit from. A non-EU visitor may not have this - so you may be wondering if you can purchase the ticket with your account for someone else to use.
READ ALSO: Reader question: Will tourists or visitors in Germany be able to use the €49 ticket?
Buy directly from Deutsche Bahn
The easiest way to do this is probably to buy the ticket directly from DB, whether online or at a ticket counter within a DB service centre.
Simply make sure you enter your name in the billing address or Rechnungsaddresse, with your billing address, and the other person’s name in the passenger name.
Remember that you will be billed monthly until the ticket is cancelled, so don’t forget to do this when the passenger you’re buying for no longer needs it.
READ ALSO: Deutsche Bahn sees demand surge for €49 nationwide ticket
Buying from your local or regional transport association
You can also check and see how easy it is to buy the ticket for someone else from your local or regional transport association.
Whether or not you can do that may depend on the association – many of which implement the €49 ticket very differently. For example, some – like Frankfurt’s, allow credit card payment. Others – like Berlin’s BVG – don’t.
If you can put in a separate billing address with a separate name, you should be able to buy it for another passenger. If you can’t, it’s probably safest just to buy directly from DB.
READ ALSO: €49 ticket goes on sale across Germany: What you need to know
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