The end of the 9€ ticket

The German 9€ public transportation ticket – a success story: 52 million 9€ tickets were sold in the past 3 months (leading to a saving of around 1,8 million barrel of CO2). Wow! And the best part: I was part of it (8 bus & 2 metro rides rather taking the car). Yeah!

I used the 9€ ticket in August mainly for taking the bus (or the metro) to work. And boy, there were some interesting, funny people along those bus rides: teenagers too cool to wear the mandatory mask vs. older people who still don’t know how to cover mouth & NOSE with a mask! The bus driver who brakes so hard that even seated people had difficulties to cope with that. The loud chatting people having 2 seats inbetween them – hey, I have an idea, why don’t you sit next to each other? The ones talking (yes, there’s still people out there who use their smartphone to call someone!) on the phone (I know everything about last night now). 2 young ladies carrying a Blackforest Gateau and the older man trying to get a piece (not successful when they left with a whole cake after 20minutes). And finally there’s me, trying out the 9€ ticket with my pink mask. On time to not miss the bus and entering a stop ahead to catch a seat (hubby shared his tricks). Lol.

I loved it! It’s handy. I got a lot more steps into my day! It was a very relaxed way to and back from work (A/C included!). It was a very good price (and makes the delay of the train rather acceptable than being annoyed).

The new problem: I now love using it and the 9€ ticket stops at the end of the month (August). Bummer. Let’s see if they’ll come up with something else interesting.

I was really motivated, yeah, even proud to go by public transportation (reducing my CO2 footprint and everything…), until I met a colleague the other day. She and her family (2 little kids) topped everything: they sold their one and only family car! I am vowed (and don’t feel as proud anymore…).

Well, we „only“ own a van, 2 Minis, and 4 motorcycles (including one crashed and the other one half build).

The competition is on! Pro and cons in discussions with hubby. Let’s see what’s going to happen next 🪄

2 days by bus to go 💪🏻