Information about the 9€-ticket

The 9€-ticket refunds are finalized. You haven't received a refund yet? Then check out our 9€-ticket FAQ! There you will find all the information on how to contact us.

What is the 9€-ticket?

The Federal Government has decided that a 9€-ticket will be introduced from 1 June, with which the use of regional and local transport (ÖPNV) throughout Germany will be possible. The ticket should also be available for July and August, i.e. for the full price of 27€ it is possible to use public transport from 1 June to 31 August. It can be purchased since 23. May via the usual distribution channels of Deutsche Bahn. For students, it is decided that semester tickets for the period of the 9€-ticket will be automatically upgraded to the latter. Students should therefore refrain from purchasing the 9€-ticket themselves unless they no longer have a valid semester ticket (e.g. due to an approved refund request) and want to come into possession of the 9€-ticket. The low price of the ticket is to be financed by the Federal Government.

Will students be reimbursed for the semester ticket?

Since the 9€-ticket allows Germany-wide use of regional and local transport, possession of the semester ticket for the corresponding period becomes obsolete. After discussions with the transport companies, it is now clear that students as well as subscribers of monthly tickets or the like should also benefit from the subsidies of the Federal Government. It is planned that there will be refunds to the students according to the contributions paid for the semester ticket in the period of the 9€-ticket.

Exactly how high the refunded contributions will be has not yet been determined, but there will be a detailed cost breakdown from the AStA as soon as this is the case. More detailed information in this regard will probably not be available until the end of June, which is why we ask you to refrain from enquiries regarding the refunds until then. Nor is it yet clear how a payment to the students will take place. According to the current status, the universities and student administrations are to develop individual solutions for this, even if all students throughout Germany should benefit from the 9€-ticket. The AStA will contact the students in this regard as soon as a suitable procedure has been established, which is why we also ask you to refrain from inquiries here. Until further information is available, the students do not have to do anything independently. If there is any further news concerning you as a student regarding the 9€-ticket, we will also inform you about it on our homepage.

Best regards,
your department of transport

Update 9€-ticket (07.07.2022)

Dear Students,
As already announced, the JGU semester tickets for the period of the 9€-ticket have been upgraded to the latter. In this context, it was decided that there will be refunds of the semester ticket fees for the period of the 9€-ticket. The amount of the refunded fees will correspond to half of the semester ticket fees minus the 9€-ticket, which the AStA purchased for the students from the Mainzer Mobilität. An exact cost breakdown will follow as soon as the semester ticket fees are paid out.
The AStA is currently working together with the student service on a possibility of refunding the semester ticket fees. Specifically, it is planned that the contributions will be paid to the account from which the contributions for the 2022 summer semester were paid. The relevant data is stored at the student service, and it is being checked to what extent an automated query can take place. We are aware that this will not be possible for all students (change of bank account, account blocking, etc.). Since we are still at the beginning of the payment process, we ask the students to refrain from sending us inquiries about this. We will check for each individual student whether a payment will be possible.
Refunds are not expected to be paid out until August. At the moment there are still the following problems, which are delaying a payment:
  1. The AStA is still in the process of making a final settlement with the transport companies for the summer semester 2022. The number of approved refund applications will not be known until mid-July, which is why no settlement can be made before then.
  2. The IT systems of the Mainzer Mobilität are currently affected by a hacker attack, which is why the process may be delayed.
  3. The refunds themselves cannot be done in one fell swoop, as each transfer block needs to be checked to see if the process worked for everyone. If errors occur, they can only be corrected by going through the account details from a transfer block individually. This cannot be done if the blocks are too large. The transfers to the students are therefore made in stages, which is why some will get their money paid out much earlier than others. Since almost 30,000 students are enrolled at JGU, this process can take several weeks.
We would also like to point out that the AStA is not an office with permanent employees. We are a handful of students who work for a small fee and mostly on a voluntary basis and try to get the best for each student at JGU. In addition to our studies, many of us also work elsewhere, which is why it is not always possible to process all inquiries immediately.
The decisions of the federal government leave the task of paying out the 9€-ticket to the student administrations of the universities. This was not our decision, even though we are of course happy about the relief measures for students (nevertheless, politics could have been different and more long-term). We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the student service in particular, which has been very supportive to the process so far! Nevertheless, we would like to point out that we will no longer answer any inquiries about the status of the payment of the 9€-ticket. The AStA will take care of it (where there is a will, there is a way) and will inform you as soon as the payments start. If you have other questions about the 9€-ticket, you can of course still ask us (but please read the FAQs on our website first, really!).
 
We thank you for your patience and wish you an extremely successful study!
 
Your AStA

Update #2 9€-ticket (18.08.2022)

Dear Students,
As already communicated via e-mail, the following costs will be reimbursed to the accounts from the summer semester 2022 deposited with the Student Secretariat on the basis of the 9€-ticket:
79.70€
The costs consist of the adjusted costs of the semester ticket for the summer semester 2022:
59,90 € + 27 € (3*9€) Mainzer Mobilität
23,40 € RMV
20,19 € RNN
3,21 € DB TransRegio
5,70 € MVGmeinRad
0,70 €
Administrative expenses
Σ 140,10 € Semester ticket fee for the summer semester 2022

The original semester ticket fee for the summer semester 2022 was 219.80€. The difference between the fee paid and the required fee is 79.70€, which will be reimbursed to the students. If a transfer to the account deposited with the Student Secretariat does not work (because, for example, the account has been closed in the meantime), we will contact these students so that they can provide us with a new IBAN using an application form. Students who have paid the semester fee in cash will be referred to the same application form. The application form is currently being prepared.

We thank you for your patience and wish you an extremely successful study!

Your AStA

FAQ

The semester ticket becomes a 9€-ticket for the period from June 1st to August 31st. There is no need to purchase an additional ticket.

For traffic controls in public transport, it is sufficient to show the semester ticket in combination with a valid identity card (this also applies to the paper ticket).

The AStA reimburses the corresponding costs to the bank accounts deposited with the Student Secretariat. We ask you to refrain from inquiring about the progress of the transfers.

Since the re-registration period for the 2022/2023 winter semester has already begun, it will probably not be offset against the contributions for the winter semester. This would also raise the problem that students who finish their studies in the summer semester 2022 would not benefit from the 9€-ticket. Furthermore, students would receive reimbursements who would not be entitled to them, namely those who start their studies in the coming semester. In any case, the AStA recommends adhering to the re-registration deadline for the coming winter semester!

A proportionate refund of the semester ticket will only be possible for students who have not submitted an approved subsidy application for reimbursement of the costs of the semester ticket, as otherwise students would receive money for the semester ticket for which the costs for the ticket have already been paid.

A proportionate refund of the semester ticket will only be possible for students who have not submitted an approved refund application for the semester ticket, as these students have already had their semester ticket refunded.

Students can have the corresponding costs reimbursed for the months of June, July and August. To do this, they should contact the transport company from which they bought the respective ticket. In most cases, this is the DB. A corresponding form can be found here: Ticketerstattung (vrn.de) (German)

Further information from the VRN can be found here: https://www.vrn.de/news/artikel/00598/index.html#sec_0_21 (German)

A proportionate refund of the semester ticket will only be possible for students who have not submitted an approved subsidy application for reimbursement of the costs of the semester ticket, as otherwise students would receive money for the semester ticket for which the costs for the ticket have already been paid.

A proportionate refund of the semester ticket will only be possible for students who have not submitted an approved refund application for the semester ticket, as these students have already had their semester ticket refunded. Only the semester ticket shares from DB Trans Regio were not fully reimbursed to Ukrainian students. However, these were half refunded due to the 9€-ticket, for which reason there is no additional right to a refund based on the 9€-ticket.

A proportionate refund of the semester ticket is only possible for students who have not submitted an approved refund application for the semester ticket due to severe disability, as these students have already received a refund for the semester ticket.

In the tariff areas of the JGU, the RNN and RMV, the usual regulations of the semester ticket (taking bicycles and dogs with you) apply.

The following regulations apply to the 9€-ticket nationwide:

  1. The 9€-ticket entitles you to use 2nd class local public transport (ÖPNV/SPNV) throughout Germany
  2. The 9€-ticket does not entitle you to use long-distance transport (ICE, IC, EC) or 1st class
  3. The 9€-ticket should be personal and not transferable to other people
  4. The 9€-ticket should not entitle you to take other people with you
  5. The 9€-ticket should not entitle you to take bicycles or dogs with you
  6. There is no provision for an exchange or refund of the 9€-ticket

Most refunds were transferred at the end of August 2022 to the account from which the semester fee for the summer semester 2022 was paid. Exceptions to this are the above-mentioned groups of people who were not entitled to a refund. At the end of 2022, students were also contacted for whom a transfer did not work out in the first round or who had paid the semester fee for 2022 in cash. Again, all refunds have now been processed.

If you still have not received a proportional refund of the semester ticket fee due to the 9€-ticket, please send us an email to verkehr@asta.uni-mainz.de with the subject "Rückerstattung 9€-Ticket". Please include your matriculation number and your name in the mail so that we can check if you have been overlooked. In addition, your enrollment certificate for the summer semester 2022 must be attached as a PDF file. The mail can be worded as follows:

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Rückerstattung 9€-Ticket

 

Dear AStA transport department,

I have not received a refund due to the 9€ ticket until today. Please check if I have been overlooked in the refunds. My name is XXXX XXXX and my matriculation number is XXXXXXX.

Yours sincerely

XXXX XXXX

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We will respond to all students who contact us in this manner, but ask for your patience as we are not permanent staff ourselves but only student volunteers who are paid well below minimum wage. Also in 2023 we will process your requests. However, we will not answer e-mails regarding the 9€-ticket in which the subject, name or matriculation number are different or in which the matriculation certificate for the summer semester 2022 is missing. We ask for your understanding.

Best regards and have a good trip!

Traffic department of the AStA of the University of Mainz