Predecessors: 1955-1992 A predecessor of the present-day BahnCard was introduced in 1955 by
Franz-Josef Wuermeling, the then Minister for Family Affairs. Discounted train tickets became available for families with many children, and the eligibility pass became known as
The Wuermeling This pass was offered until 1999. In 1975 a Senior rail pass was introduced by the
Bundesbahn, valid for men older than 65 years and women older than 60 years, and entitling them to a discount of 50 per cent on long-distance train tickets. Later similar passes were introduced for minors and families, valid for journeys longer than (reduced to later). In the
Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR), the
East German rail company, which was later merged with the
Bundesbahn, normal student ID cards entitled students to a discount of 50 per cent on all journeys and 75 per cent if the journey was between home and university.
Introduction and growth: 1992-2002 The main motivation for introducing the BahnCard was to increase competitiveness against the automobile. Prior to the BahnCard, Deutsche Bahn priced a trip between any two points related to the distance travelled; this pricing structure proved uncompetitive with driving. The card allowed a two-dimensional pricing schedule, which consists of card price (a
fixed cost), and ticket price (a
variable cost). Once a passenger has bought a card, its price becomes a
sunk cost and this makes the train more like the automobile, which is also characterised by high fixed costs. The decision whether to take a car or train for a particular journey depends mostly on the
marginal price per kilometer, not on the total cost. The effect of the BahnCard was to shift the marginal cost of the train journey below that of the car journey for many customers. Initially the card was available for second class travel and 50 per cent discount only, but at Christmas 1992, the
BahnCard First for the first class was launched along with
gift vouchers for the new product. By the end of the year, it was bought by 650,000 clients. A major advertising campaign was started by the (then called)
Bundesbahn, where the card was marketed under the slogan
travel for a year for half the price. The TV advertising campaign for the new product won several awards. The introduction of the BahnCard coincided with the launch of the
high-speed InterCityExpress trains, a luxury service that gained wider customer acceptance than previous intercity trains. One million BahnCards were sold by 20 January 1993. Two new versions were now offered in addition to the original card, a BahnCard with
Visa payment and credit card function a BahnCard with
Visa Electron payment (a rechargeable debit card). The credit card Bahncards were valid for a period of two years, and the regular card still for a period of one year. The validity of the cards was altered from the exact day to the end of a month. The new cards now also included a photograph of the customer. The DM 50 (€25) fee for replacement cards (in case of loss) was abolished, and a dining car voucher worth €5 was included with new cards. The customer data and photographs were processed in the US, which raised
privacy concerns with some groups. This campaign, called "better BahnCard", was criticised by the newspaper
Die Zeit in June 1996, which reported that customers were tricked into buying the credit card version against their will and that organisational errors lead to delays of several months and the delivery of incorrect cards. In June 1996 the magazine
Focus reported that "CitiBank must improve BahnCards". Despite a high-profile marketing campaign, customers largely rejected the "better BahnCard"; only 390,000 were sold by May 1996 instead of the projected 1.5 million. The partnership with CitiBank was terminated on 31 March 1999. In 1995, the
Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund was the first local
public transport network outside Deutsche Bahn to join the BahnCard system. A 40 per cent discount on all local train, tram and bus tickets was offered to BahnCard holders, and included in promotional tickets such as the
Guten-Abend-Ticket. Long distance DB tickets with Frankfurt as a destination also allowed a single free connecting journey for non-BahnCard customers. In exchange, Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund customers were able to use Deutsche Bahn Interregio (regional) trains for free. Commuters who held season tickets of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund could now also use Intercity, Eurocity, and
InterCityExpress trains in the Rhein-Main area for a small surcharge.
New tariff model and diversification: 2002-present Towards the end of 2002, Deutsche Bahn undertook a major reform of its pricing strategy. The linear pricing model (where ticket prices were fixed and proportional to distance travelled) that had existed for over a century was partly replaced with a new model. Though the old fare system for
standard tickets was kept largely unchanged, a degree of
yield management After passenger protests and declining passenger numbers, the pricing model was modified again in August 2003. The original 50 per cent discount Bahncard was reintroduced alongside the 25 per cent Bahncard, however its price was increased from €120 to €200. On 14 December 2003 the
City ticket (see below) was launched in 44 cities in cooperation with the
Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (Union of German Transport Operators),
Deutsche Bahn, and the individual local transport companies. On 12 December 2004, another 13 cities joined the scheme; on 11 December 2005 (coinciding with the new DB timetable) another 19, on 1 April 2007 another 16, and on 10 December 2007 yet 7 more. 100 million rail tickets with "City-ticket" function were sold by the beginning of 2008. Between 2004 and 2008 the number of BahnCard holders grew by one million to 4.01 million, the highest in the history of the card. In March 2024, DB announced to no longer issue BahnCard 25 and 50 as an actual plastic card from July 2024, making the use of its corresponding smartphone apps mandatory to access the virtual variant. ==Current tariff structure==