Since the discussions here are primarily about the railway system, Deutsche Bahn and especially long distance travels, I would like to point out that most of th

Since the discussions here are primarily about the railway system, Deutsche Bahn and especially long distance travels, I would like to point out that most of this does not specifically apply to the 9-Euro-per-month ticket for this summer. But first, I want to agree with many of the complaints, that long distance travelling by train has its annoyances in Germany: lots of trains not on schedule, missed connections resulting from that, occasionally completely overfull trains, very bad management when something goes wrong. However, the 9-Euro ticket is not designed for long distance travels. (You may use it as such, because some regional trains are covering quite a distance and by switching from local train to local train; just take your time.) Besides of local and regional trains, it is also valid for most of the local trams and buses as well (except some private operators, that do not participate). The ease it provides for local transport is, what it makes really attractive for me. I do not need to think about how to get a ticket (often in advance), if I am visiting somewhere. Without any afterthought, I can use a bus downtown everywhere for just one or two stops. I can park my car somewhere outside, near a tram station and take a 10 min. ride into the centre and do not need to find out which of more than a dozent ticket options is the one I need. All of this is mainly psychological. Even before the 9-Euro ticket, using local transport was cheaper than driving a car. And admittedly, there are still some advantages of the car, most notably that you don't have to obey a time-table. But as you might think of your car as just waiting for you to get in and go, so it is now with any bus, tram or local/regional train.