The tickets can be purchased from the Bonner Stadtwerke from Monday - for example online in the SWB easy.Go app. Passengers can also buy the 9-euro ticket at ticket machines directly on the platform or in the train, SWB said. You can also buy your ticket from the bus driver.

SWB says that customers who already have a subscription do not have to do anything to benefit from the relief package, as they are currently being informed by post about the further procedure. SWB Bus und Bahn is handling the billing internally. The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS) is proceeding in the same way: there, too, customers do not have to cancel or change an existing subscription and can still travel for nine euros.

We clarify the most important questions about the nine-euro tickets.

Validity: The monthly tickets are always valid until the end of the calendar month in which they are purchased. So if you buy a ticket on 15 June, you can only use it until the end of June. A new ticket must be purchased for nine euros for each month (June, July and August). So for the complete three months, the cost is 27 euros. The tickets cannot be used on long-distance trains (ICE/IC).

Subscribers: Anyone with an existing subscription with VRR or VRS will only have to pay the nine euros per month for the three months. The adjustment will be made automatically. If the subscription includes any extras such as taking bicycles with you, or taking another person along at weekends or in the evenings, this privilege continues within the respective transport association or area of validity. These extras cannot be taken along outside the transport association.

New permanent customers: VRR and VRS hope that many customers will book a permanent subscription after the three months in order to be less dependent on their car and/or to become more mobile. To this end, customers can of course book a subscription that they find permanently interesting, but in the first three months they will still only pay nine euros.

The VRR's "Bären-Ticket" (Bear Ticket) is interesting for anyone aged 60 and over: it allows unlimited use of 1st class in the VRR, bicycle transport and taking one other person with you from 7 p.m. and at weekends. The price of 92.90 euros per month is high; much cheaper are tickets for pupils under 25 years of age ("Schokoticket") or tickets for a small radius such as only one city. VRR board member Josè Luis Castrillo told our editorial office: "A Ticket 2000 usually costs much less per month than a petrol tank devours."

High rush: A survey by VRR showed that more than two million new customers can be expected, although many commuters will temporarily not be using trains and buses because of holidays. Especially on routes that are interesting for excursions and short holidays, such as to Münster, Koblenz, Cologne, Bremen or the Eifel, it could get crowded. Castrillo advises against taking two-wheelers on such routes: "It will be wiser to rent bikes at the destination rather than take them with you."

Controversy: The Bundesrat approved the package late last week. Especially the states led by the CDU/CSU had previously threatened to scupper the plan, claiming that the subsidies for organising the nine-euro ticket were too low. Nevertheless, in the end even the critics voted in favour of the federal government's proposal. The federal government is financing the project by transferring 2.5 billion euros to the Länder to compensate for the loss of revenue from season tickets.

Original text: Reinhard Kowalewsky and Michael Wrobel

Translation: Jean Lennox