A nation-wide experiment, part II: the introduction of a 49-Euro-per-month travel pass in Germany -- An empirical study on this fare innovation

In a response to the 2022 cost-of-living crisis in Europe, the German government implemented a three-month fuel excise tax cut and a public transport travel pass for 9 Euro per month valid on all local and regional services. Following this period, a public debate immediately emerged on a successor to the so-called "9-Euro-Ticket", leading to the political decision of introducing a similar ticket priced at 49 Euro per month in May 2023, the so-called "Deutschlandticket". We observe this introduction of the new public transport ticket with a sample of 818 participants using a smartphone-based travel diary with passive tracking and a two-wave survey. The sample comprises 510 remaining participants of our initial "9-Euro-Ticket study from 2022 and 308 participants recruited in March and early April 2023. In this report we report on the status of the panel before the introduction of the "Deutschlandticket".