By July, 5.6 billion people had travelled on scheduled services in Germany. There were large increases in local transport – but the picture is somewhat different in long-distance transport.
From January to June 2024, more passengers traveled by bus and train in Germany than in the same period last year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the increase was six percent. This means that a total of around 5.6 billion people used buses and trains on scheduled services. According to statisticians, the Deutschlandticket introduced on May 1, 2023 is likely to have caused the increase in passenger numbers.
In local public transport, which accounts for 99 percent of scheduled services, passenger numbers also grew by six percent in the first half of 2024. The number of passengers on local rail transport rose by 12 percent to over 1.3 billion. Passenger numbers on trams were seven percent and rose to over 1.9 billion people.
In local bus transport, the Federal Office registered around 2.5 billion passengers in the first half of 2024 – an increase of four percent compared to the same period last year. However, these figures may not fully reflect the actual increase, as buses are comparatively rarely equipped with automatic passenger counting systems, it said.
Slight decline in passenger numbers on long-distance scheduled services
In contrast, passenger numbers on long-distance scheduled services fell by four percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, to 73 million passengers. According to statisticians, this was due to developments in long-distance rail transport. In the first quarter of 2024, there were strike-related cancellations, and eleven percent fewer passengers traveled on long-distance trains than in the same quarter last year.
In the second quarter of 2024, however, there was a one percent increase in passengers. For the entire first half of 2024, long-distance rail transport recorded 69 million passengers, five percent fewer than in the same period last year. In contrast, more people traveled on long-distance bus services: five million passengers used them in the first half of 2024, four percent more than in the first half of 2023.
Source: Stern
