Semester ticket
When you pay the semester fee, you also pay a fee for the semester ticket.
Deutschlandsemesterticket
Students at the Universität Erfurt, Fachhochschule Erfurt, Duale Hochschule Gera-Eisenach, campus Gera, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena, Hochschule Nordhausen, Hochschule Schmalkalden, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar und Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar can access the Deutschlandsemesterticket (DST) via the website of the Verkehrsverbund Mittelthüringen (VMT). The DST is provided via an app, which serves as a ticket.
The DST is valid nationwide and allows travel throughout Germany on public transport and regional rail services. Long-distance trains cannot be used with the DST. A separate ticket is required for this. The exception in Thuringia is the IC connection from Erfurt via Weimar and Jena to Gera. This can also be used in both directions between these cities with the DST.
FAQs
The DST can be accessed before the start of the semester.
Current students will be asked whether they want to access the current or the next semester. It is not necessary to access the current semester again, as the tickets are already available in the transport companies' systems until March or September inclusive.
After requesting the ticket, all students will be shown a subscription number and sent an email with the number that is valid for the DST in the new semester. The previous subscription number remains unchanged for the current semester.
When requesting the ticket on the VMT website, please ensure that you select the correct semester and enter the correct subscription number when loading the DST into the respective app.
The DST is a personalised ticket.
Children under the age of six travel free of charge and do not require a ticket. Children aged six and over require their own ticket.
In the VMT, children under the age of eight travel free of charge until they start school (first day of school) and only when accompanied by an adult. These children do not require their own Deutschlandticket. Children over the age of eight require their own ticket.
Bicycles can be transported free of charge on local trains in Thuringia. Outside Thuringia, the regulations of the respective transport providers apply.
Students who have obtained their DST are not eligible for a refund of the semester fee.
Rail Ticket
For students at the Cooperative University Gera-Eisenach, campus Eisenach, the semester ticket includes a rail ticket, i.e. an inexpensive arrangement with Deutsche Bahn for regional transport. The Thuringian University and Student Services Card (thoska) of the respective university with the imprint ‘Semester Ticket’ in conjunction with a valid photo ID serves as a ticket.
Before use, it is necessary to check that the validity mark on the thoska is still clearly legible and has not expired. Otherwise, students are considered passengers without a valid ticket and are obliged to pay €60. It is therefore important to ensure that the validity stamp is renewed in good time at the relevant thoska offices so that the thoska is clearly legible, undamaged and up to date.
Unauthorised changes to the entries on the thoska will invalidate it as a ticket! Students will then be treated as passengers without a valid ticket. Unauthorised changes include laminated, trimmed, erased, glued, overwritten and foil-stuck cards that cannot be removed. Certificates of enrolment are not recognised as tickets. The semester ticket is non-transferable.
Students who do not receive a thoska card from their university or who receive a thoska card that does not entitle them to the usual discounts, in particular guest students, auditors, distance learning students and online students, do not receive a DB Regio rail ticket and are therefore not entitled to travel.
The rail ticket is only valid for travel within Thuringia and is valid until the last stop of a train in Thuringia:
| Companies within the DB Group | Routes | Means of transport |
| DB Regio | all, including inbound and outbound traffic in transport/tariff associations and transport communities | trains in product class C (IRE, RE, RB and S-Bahn) |
| Elbe-Saale-Bahn | ||
| OBS (Oberweißbacher Berg- und Schwarzatalbahn) | only downhill section Rottenbach - Katzhütte | local trains |
| DB Fernverkehr | Erfurt - Weimar - Jena - Gera | trains in the IC/EC product class with an additional RE train number are designated as NV trains |
| Other railway companies | Routes | Means of transport |
| EB (Erfurter Bahn) | all except Rennsteigbahn (KBS 566) between Ilmenau and Rennsteig station | all |
| STB (Süd Thüringen Bahn) | all | all |
| VGB (Vogtlandbahn) | all | all |
| ABR (ABELLIO Rail Mitteldeutschland) | all | all |
The rail ticket is also valid for trains operated by "Start Mitteldeutschland".
For journeys to/from destinations outside the area covered by the semester ticket, tickets must be purchased in accordance with the DB AG conditions of carriage to/from the last scheduled stop within the area covered by the semester ticket. In accordance with the Hopperticket fare regulations, its use is excluded thereafter.
For journeys to the Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund (MDV) area, the following exception applies if the last stop in Thuringia is ‘Treben-Lehma’: When continuing your journey in the MDV (leaving Thuringia), you must purchase and validate an MDV ticket (including the Altenburg – Treben-Lehma route) at the Altenburg transfer station.
Students have the following option for combining the Thuringia semester ticket with an adjacent state ticket: For journeys with an adjacent state ticket within its area of validity or within the area of validity of the Thuringia semester ticket, there is no need to purchase tickets to the first or from the last scheduled stop within the area of validity.
The rail ticket is not valid:
- on excursion and special trains
- on the Ilmenau station – Rennsteig station route operated by Erfurter Bahn GmbH (KBS 566)
- on the Eisenach – Gerstungen route
- on the Cantus Bahn
- on the Harzer Schmalspurbahn (HSB)
The train ticket is not valid on long-distance trains, with the following exception: IC trains between Gera and Erfurt can be used as regional trains.
Since December 2018, three Intercity train pairs have connected Gera via Jena, Weimar and Erfurt with Kassel and the Ruhr area. This integrates Gera into Deutsche Bahn's long-distance network. The IC trains stop between Gera and Erfurt in Hermsdorf-Klosterlausnitz, Stadtroda, Jena-Göschwitz, Jena West and Weimar and are integrated into the RegionalExpress (RE 1 Göttingen-Glauchau) service on this section, i.e. RE trains are replaced by IC services here.
The Free State of Thuringia has concluded an agreement with DB Fernverkehr on the recognition of local transport fares in long-distance rail passenger transport. This means that Intercity trains on the Gera – Erfurt section can also be used with local transport tickets or tickets from the VMT. This also means that the Thuringia semester ticket is valid here.
Please note:
Tickets in the IC/EC product class are required for journeys beyond the Gera – Weimar – Erfurt section. If you are planning a journey beyond Erfurt and are using one of these IC connections, you will have to pay the connection costs. The thoska is only valid as far as Erfurt on these IC trains, and then again on regional trains from Erfurt onwards.
Bicycles can generally be taken on IC trains. In accordance with the regulations in the Free State of Thuringia, transport is also free of charge here, but only after prior reservation of a parking space, which is subject to a fee.
FAQs
Holders of a Thuringia semester ticket can travel on trains (Deutsche Bahn and private railways) with any number of children up to and including the age of 14. Children between the ages of six and 14 must carry identification showing their age. Children up to and including the age of five travel free of charge and do not require identification.
Bicycles can be taken on local trains in Thuringia free of charge, provided that there is sufficient space available.
The information is available on this page. Please note that non-use of the semester ticket does not entitle you to a refund.