D-ticket, easy to get and easy to use

I want to add the official web page for Deutschland-Ticket of Deutsche Bahn including FAQ about it.

Carol,
A few questions:
1. Did you purchase the ticket before leaving in the US or when you arrived in Germany?
2. You reference an email link: was this a confirmation of the purchase, or an email on how to cancel, or both.
3. Is there a way to cancel on the app or only through the link in the email?
4. Were all interactions (app, payment, email) in English?
5. You say you show the QR code on your phone, is it in the app, the email, Apple Wallet, and/or a downloaded pdf?
Thanks

1. I purchased and cancelled in the US prior to my trip.
2. You need to download the app (MVV) onto your smartphone and set up a login. I purchased through the app. The email is a confirmation and contains the link for cancelling your subscription which is done through the link, not the app. Everything was in English.
   1. QR code is on the app under “tickets”

I'm glad the MVV app worked for your purchase of the DT. However, there are apps that work even a little easier because you can can cancel directly out of the app and don't have to wait for an email providing a link (a method that is used also by the Bremen Fahrplaner App recommended by the Man in seat 61).

The most convenient in my experience are HVV Switch or Mainzer Mobilität. Mainzer Mobilität has a small disadvantage for people from countries with alphanumeric ZIP codes (such as the UK), which it doesn't accept. But you can type the ZIP code in a wordprocessor and copy/paste it into the corresponding field.
As far as HVV Switch is concerned, in the long thread mentioned above there were complaints that the number of the driver's license be requested. This is a misunderstanding - you only have to indicate it if you want to participate in car sharing via HVV Switch.

BTW, the DB website mentioned above is useless for overseas buyers, because DB only accepts payment by direct debiting, which is not possible from non-EU countries, even if your bank provides an IBAN. The reason is obvious: direct debiting can be cancelled for eight weeks and there is no way for the seller to collect the money in non-EU countries.

Thanks for the response.
I want to make sure I understand the validity of the ticket:
1. It is valid on all regional trains. I am planning day trips from Dresden to Gorlitz, Erfurt to Weimar, Frankfurt to Heidelberg. The D ticket will work?
2. Will the D ticket be valid for all city transportation in Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Dresden, and Berlin?
3. You only have to cancel the ticket one time?
Thanks for all replies

Yes to all

Carol,
Thanks for the response.
I am going the beginning of December and have already purchased my ICE Super Saver fares.
The D ticket is a huge savings for my other transportation needs. It almost seems too good to be true!!
Thanks

It almost seems too good to be true!!

But that comes at a price - most local trains nowadays are pretty full. So, if your train originates at your departure station (which is probably the case for Frankfurt-Heidelberg and Dresden-Görlitz), you should be there at least 15 minutes before departure to get a seat. There is no seat reservation.

Heads-up.
The true price is that there will be less money to maintain and replace train network infrastructure to make train travel a real alternative to fossile mobility options. Even the famous 9 EUR ticket was not bought by everyone because price is for a lot of people not the issue.

There are solid reasons - not the price - why people do not use the Bahn: reliability, punctuality, safety at and around stations, cleanliness, reachability with other means of transport and accessibility. All this cannot be financed with low-cost-tickets for everyone. For sure there must be significant discounts for those in social need, but not for every traveler. This policy is pure nonsense and costs the tax payers billions of Euro. Therefore there are currently discussions how ro finance that wrong way of election present.

And with the number of users based on cheap ticketing the problem is increasing.

Is this D-ticket a short term offer or a permanent option? Or, will it be available at least next summer? We have taken trains and driven overseas but as we age the driving is becoming less enjoyable. A deal like this could be very influential in selecting our next destination. Thanks for any insights.

It almost seems too good to be true!!

And as we all know, anything that seems that way probably is.

It's been widely reported that most of the people who have a monthly D-Ticket subscription NOW are the same people who had a monthly subscription BEFORE the €49 Ticket was born. So let's say that back in the spring of 2022, 60-year-old Koblenz resident "Georg" had and ongoing but discounted senior citizen subscription (€71.20/month from the local VRM transit authority) which gave him unlimited local train/bus transport. His monthly pass would not take Georg across the country to Dresden, but it covered most of his trips within a 1-hour radius just fine. And Georg would of course pay separately for train journeys to more distant places. But Georg was still DELIGHTED with his subsidized pass... younger people with monthly passes for the same travel zone were at that time paying €242.60/month for their subscriptions.

Naturally, Georg and the younger subscribers leapt with joy and chucked their VRM subscriptions when the countrywide €9 D-Ticket (2022) came around and signed up for €49/mo. D-Ticket this year too - still a huge discount. And maybe they are now making some of those longer journeys (which they used to buy additional tickets for) for free using the regional trains. Clearly, the drop in user-based revenue has got to have been phenomenal, and it has come during a period when the rail system is being hit hard with inflation and deferred repairs.

I'm guessing that the motivated decision-makers will probably keep their D-Ticket experiment going in 2024 and tack on some extra Euros to the monthly fee to make it less unsustainable. But it probably will still be unsustainable in the long run, as MarkK has suggested. For visitors staying 10 days or longer, I think a D-Ticket priced at €59 or €69 could still be a bargain - it just depends on the distances and the number of trips you have in mind.

Is this D-ticket a short term offer or a permanent option? Or, will it
be available at least next summer? We have taken trains and driven
overseas but as we age the driving is becoming less enjoyable. A deal
like this could be very influential in selecting our next destination.
Thanks for any insights.

Denny: The D-Ticket will probably be available next summer. But long before the D-Ticket came around there were - and still are - cheap day passes that you can use to travel between your destinations in Germany.

- Länder-Tickets:

These are day passes that have been around a long time. Each "Land" (state) like Bayern (Bavaria) or Rheinland-Pfalz or Baden-Württemberg typically offers its own pass, with pricing for a couple at roughly €30-€36/day. Map of states:

https://assets.static-bahn.de/dam/jcr:1cea916f-b169-45ee-b3bd-d0e4472794f7/213530-286959.jpg

Just like the D-Ticket, these day passes are valid on local and regional trains. Unlike the D-Ticket, no subscription is required. You just buy them at the station as you go.

So if you were for example to plan a trip within Bavaria that took you from Munich to Nuremberg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Salzburg to Munich, you'd need 4 day passes, €144 total for 4 Bayern Tickets.

- Other day tickets:

Smaller subregions offer day passes as well, and all across the country. Their offers differ, but their prices are cheaper, and they typically include all local transport (trams, subways, etc.) Map of these zones in Germany:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Karte_der_Verkehrsverb%C3%BCnde_und_Tarifverb%C3%BCnde_in_Deutschland.png

The VGN (Nuremberg) and the VRM (Rhine/Mosel) are two such zones. See rail maps for those zones below:

https://images.gutefrage.net/media/fragen-antworten/bilder/459443150/0_full.jpg?v=1655930239000

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/PDF/2023/VRM_Schienennetzplan_2022_2023.pdf

Thank you Russ for the comprehensive reply. We’ve used some of those tickets in Germany in the past to good advantage. We are just starting to think about plans and haven’t researched much at all yet, but the simplicity I suspect or hope this ticket entails is appealing. Thanks again, and safe travels to all.

It is simple and that is a strong part of the appeal for me. You never stop to worry about a ticket, you just get on, show your QR code if they ask, and you are off.

It is important to note that the ticket is by calendar month. If your trip is one week in one month and one week in another, it may not be as economical. Our trip was entirely in Sept so it worked fine.

My biggest challenge was wading through the “too much information “ here on the forum and finding an easy to manage app.

Sometimes, less is more. Telling someone 13 different ways to do the same thing can be a bit overwhelming.

Edit: not referring to this thread, but the previous one with over 100 entries and a constant redirection of how to apply.

I it appears this thread has been hijacked with posts on costs to repair tracks and a fictitious citizen Georg, buying a different monthly pass.

I appreciate your direct and concise answers Carol. Because of you, I will be able to utilize the D-Ticket in December: saving both time and money.

Ultracrepidarianism seems to show up on this travel board at times.

@Carolnow: The long "other thread" is a chronicle of people's individual efforts - some successful, some less so - to discover an easy way for foreign travelers like us to obtain the D-Ticket subscription. If it's easy NOW (I haven't tried it myself) then it's only because so many forum members here struggled and then shared their results.

I am grateful for their efforts and for the eventual consensus. With a little luck, I'll be traveling again soon and using the thread as a reference. Many thanks to all who participated.

Carol,

Thank-you for your guidance.

I followed your directions, downloaded the MVV App, purchased the D-Ticket, cancelled the subscription via the email, all in English, and have the ticket on the app on my phone, and ready to use it on my upcoming trip.

traveler 99, That is great to hear. I’m glad this was helpful to you.

I’m looking at the MVV app and it indicates it is for use in the greater Munich area? Does that mean it doesn’t apply to the rest of the country?

No. Every transport authority (Verkehrsverbund) can sell the Deutschland-Ticket. The MVV app travel info itself covers only the greater Munich region. For nationwide connections, use the DB Navigator app.

Andrea,
The D-ticket sold at the MVV app is valid throughout Germany on local and regional transport. It is not valid on ICE, IC/EC, long distance trains.

https://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/tickets-and-fares/frequent-travellers/deutschland-ticket-d-ticket/index.html

Is the D-ticket available to purchase on the DB Navigator app?

DB only accepts direct debit from an EU account as a method of payment. The DB Navigator is therefore unusable for visitors from overseas in this respect.
I would use the app of one of the larger transport associations, e.g. HVV Switch, Mainzer Mobilität, Bremen Fahrplaner, MVV. HVV Switch and Mainzer Mobilität are the most practical because you can cancel directly in the app and don't have to keep an confirmation email.

Thanks sla019!

Help! I downloaded the hvv switch app and after rejecting 2 different Visa cards it finally accepted Pay Pal. So far, so good. When I try to purchase the Deutschland ticket it shows how much and I can buy now, but then nothing happens. I looked at the terms and conditions page but didn’t see a box to check to accept. What am I doing wrong?

Success! I downloaded the MVV app and was able to complete the purchase.

That is good to hear. The MVV app process is really quite straightforward.

The MVV app was straight forward for me, because of Carol.

What made this easy for me, was the input from Carol, who actually completed the process from the US, and was able to give details about it, such as it all being in English.

There is a difference between saying something is theoretically possible as opposed to someone giving details on how they actually did it.

Currently using the D-ticket, it is nice not to worry about buying local and regional transportation tickets.

When it is checked, the ticket inspector scans the QR code from the MVV app on my phone into their device, some ask for passport to match ticket, but not all.

I have a picture of my passport on my phone, that is acceptable.

Thank you Carol!!!!!!😉

Hi, I just purchased a D-ticket for January via the MVV apps. The ticket shows up as a line item on my My Tickets but it doesn't have any QR code. When I clicked on it, it had the options to request a receipt or transfer the ticket. When I chose the transfer, I got an error message stating that the ticket has been transferred to my device. Does anyone know what's going on? Is it because it's not yet January and the QR code will only show from 1/1/2024 on? I sent an inquiry to MVV but their autoreply e-mail said it may take some time before I get a response from them. Thanks! - Caroline

=====================================================================================================
12/14 Updates to the above: MVV replies, the problem was caused by the updates to their apps. I downloaded their latest updates per instructions, and the problem is resolved! They said if downloading the update doesn't work, then uninstall and install the app again. In my case, downloading the update is sufficient.

Caroline:

I purchased the D-ticket in November, for December, from the US, on the MVV app.

The item showed up immediately after the purchase, but the QR code did not appear until Dec 1, the first day the ticket was valid.

When it was checked, 25% of the time they asked to see my passport, to match the ticket. I had a photo of my passport on my phone, and that was sufficient.

Hi Traveler99,

After I reported the error message to MVV, MVV directed me to download its latest app update and it resolved my problem. My January D-ticket has the QR code now, even though it's not valid yet.

Keeping a passport photo on the cell is a great idea!

So, thanks to Carol's excellent advice, I downloaded the MVV app and bought the ticket, but I did that before I registered, duh! So I registered and gave all my information, but then got all the responses in German. Thanks to Google translate, I could understand what they were asking, but now I can't get access to my ticket. The message says, "Your currently valid tickets are displayed here. Can't see all tickets? Check you profile to make sure you're logged in." So I checked my profile and I was logged in. Just to be sure, I logged out and then logged in again, but I keep getting the same message.

How long does it take for the email to arrive? I waited until the next morning and still no email from MVV. I will write to customer service and hope they get back to me in time for me to cancel March. Has anyone else had a problem with this?

Okay, now I am about ready to pull the hair out of my head. I went to the Help section where they gave links to email or fill out a contact form. Figuring email would be the fastest, I emailed them and got the following message back:
Your message to the Microsoft 365 group [email protected] couldn't be delivered.
The group mvv-app isn't set up to receive messages from [email protected].
Then further on down in the email, it said:
The Microsoft 365 group, [email protected], is configured to reject messages sent to it from outside its organization -- unless the sender is a guest group member. [email protected] isn't part of the organization, and it isn't a guest group member.

Suggestions to fix it were to contact the group owner and ask to be a member of the group. Or to check that I didn't use a different email address. Or to be asked to be a member of the group. Hello! How can I do that when I can't reach anyone? And I certainly know my own email address.

So I took the next step and sent a contact form. I filled out all the information and then was given a Captcha code to copy. I did that 6 times! and 6 times I was told it was the wrong code. I can read numbers; I can copy numbers, and in every case my numbers matched the Captcha numbers, but I was sent the "Try Again" message over and over. So I started all over again and filled out the contact form a second time, was asked to put the Captch code in and it was rejected several times.

I'm at my wit's end. They have no other way to contact them. I purchased the ticket and I have only a few days left to cancel it, but I have received no confirmation email, no welcoming email, and no link to cancel the subscription. Can ANYONE provide a viable suggestion as to how I should proceed? There doesn't seem to be a phone number and even if there were one, I don't speak enough German to make my situation understood.

By the way, I downloaded the app on my iPhone; my husband downloaded it on his Android, and when he couldn't see the ticket on the app, he sent an email and got the same response as I. He hasn't filled out the contact form as yet because he's pretty upset.

On the contact form- to the right of the form, there is a phone number to call (during German business hours).

When they pick up, have the line 'Do You speak English' translated into German ready to say to them- and also, if the answer is no, also have the response 'can you transfer me to someone who does speak English'.
Google translate is your friend here.
The advice up thread seemed to be to pay using PayPal as that was by default non self renewing. Did you do so, if so has the money been taken from your Pay Pal Account?
If you paid by card, has the money been taken from your account.

My suspicion, looking at this from outside, is that the transaction may have been unsuccessful if you had no active account.

Also, and I am not being patronising, I am looking at a Captcha code which has dashes between the numbers. Did you add those and the given spacings, between the numbers and the dashes.
Assuming the e-mail address you gave above is real, it is not a good idea to give that on a public forum.

PS- When you emailed did you use this e-mail address?- [email protected]