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Marc Schlagenhauf
The semester ticket for students at TU Ilmenau will be a Germany-wide regional transport ticket (Deutschland-Semesterticket) from the winter semester 2024/2025. The ticket is offered on a solidarity model. This means that the ticket is offered at a reduced price, but all students have to pay for it. You have therefore already paid for the ticket with your semester fee.
On behalf of the Student Council (StuRa), the Studierendenwerk is responsible for the concrete implementation of the ticket with the transport companies. For the student body of TU Ilmenau, the Ilm district is the contractual partner for the Deutschland-Semesterticket via IOV Omnibusverkehr GmbH.
From October 1, 2024, the Thoska will no longer function as a semester ticket and will no longer be recognized as such by the transport companies!
If you have upgraded your semester ticket to the Deutschlandticket in the past, this will end automatically at the end of the summer semester.
How do I get my ticket?
The Deutschland-Semesterticket is booked via a portal of the Verkehrsverbund Mittelthüringen (VMT). There you have to authenticate yourself with your university login data. If you are new to TU Ilmenau, it is therefore important that you first activate your university account.
Select Technische Universität Ilmenau in the booking portal and confirm with OK. You will now be redirected to the login window where you can log in with your university account. Once you have successfully logged in, you will be shown which data will be transferred to the booking portal and you will be asked for your consent. Select the option that suits you best for the duration of the information transfer and confirm by clicking on Accept.
Please check carefully whether your personal data (name, date of birth in the format YYYYMMDD and e-mail address), which are transmitted to the booking portal via the university login, are correct. Among other things, this is important for retrieving the ticket in the IOV ticket app later. If you provide incorrect information, you could also have problems at a ticket inspection. If the information provided is incorrect, cancel the ticket booking and have the incorrect data corrected by the university (studierendensekretariat@tu-ilmenau.de) first.
After logging in with your university account, you will be shown whether you are entitled to apply for a ticket. If so, it should look like the picture and you can click on Activate semester ticket.
You will then receive an email to your university email address. In this email you will find a subscription number. With the subscription number and your date of birth, you can retrieve your ticket in the IOV ticket app from the start of the semester (October 1 or April 1).
To retrieve your ticket in the IOV ticket app, select Add ticket below and then Add existing ticket. Then enter your subscription number in the Order field and your birthday in the Date of birth field (DD.MM.YYYY) and confirm by clicking OK. Your ticket will now be listed in the overview when you start the IOV ticket app. Clicking on the ticket will take you to the QR code that you will need in the event of a ticket inspection. The ticket is updated automatically every month until the end of the semester.
Is the ticket also available as a chip card?
Yes. If you do not have the option of using the ticket on a smartphone in the IOV ticket app, you can alternatively receive the ticket as a chip card. However, it is not possible to issue an app ticket and a chip card for the same person. Please contact the IOV Service Center (German) with your subscription number, which you received at your university email address after booking the ticket in the VMT portal (see above).
The IOV needs the following data from you to issue the chip card:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Address
- Matriculation number
- University e-mail address (for queries)
- Phone number (for queries)
You can find the IOV Service Center here:
- Ilmenau: Marktstraße 1-3, Mon-Fri: 07:30 to 18:00
- Arnstadt: Erfurter Straße 33, Mon-Fri: 07:30 to 18:00
It should take around two to three working days to issue the chip card (although it could take a little longer if there are a lot of requests). You can then collect your card from the IOV Service Center.
Validity
The semester ticket is valid wherever the Deutschlandticket is valid, i.e. roughly speaking in German regional transport (ÖPNV) with all participating transport associations and companies. This includes, for example, regional trains (RB), regional express trains (RE), interregional express trains (IRE), suburban trains (S-Bahn), subway trains (U-Bahn), streetcars and buses. Please note that there may be exceptions.
The ticket is not valid on long-distance services. This includes, for example, InterCity (IC), InterCityExpress (ICE), EuroCity (EC) or FlixTrain. There are also regional express trains (RE) operated by DB Fernverkehr. It is not possible to travel on these either.
On some IC routes, it is possible to travel with the Deutschlandticket. In Thuringia, for example, this applies to the IC connection from Erfurt via Weimar and Jena to Gera. This can also be used in both directions between these cities with the Deutschland-Semesterticket. There are also other IC routes on which the Deutschlandticket is recognized (German).
Sometimes you can also find out whether the Deutschlandticket is valid on an IC route in the DB Navigator app if you click on Journey information for a connection and then scroll down to the information at the bottom.
Before starting your journey, please find out whether the Deutschlandticket is valid on the means of transport you wish to use. Pay particular attention to any exceptions and special regulations.
The Deutschlandsemesterticket is only valid in combination with an official identity document. So always have your identity card or something similar with you.
Screenshots of ticket QR codes can be displayed as invalid during an inspection because the digital signature of the QR code changes regularly. A screenshot can therefore quickly become outdated and no longer be recognized as valid. It is therefore important to always use the latest QR code.
Bicycle Transport
Bicycle transport is not included in the ticket. You must therefore find out whether it is possible to take bicycles on your route free of charge or whether you need an additional ticket for your bicycle.
In Thuringia, bicycles can usually be taken on local trains free of charge if there is enough space on the train. You can find more information here:
- Süd-Thüringen-Bahn (German)
- Erfurter Bahn (German)
- Deutsche Bahn (German)
- Abellio (German)
Carriage of Children
The Deutschland-Semesterticket does not allow children to travel with you. However, children under the age of 6 can often travel free of charge. In the VMT area (German), children under the age of 8 can also travel free of charge until they start school if accompanied by an adult.
Refund of the Ticket Price
Under certain circumstances (e.g. semester on leave or exmatriculation after the re-registration deadline but before the start of the semester), you may be able to have the ticket price refunded by the Studierendenwerk.
For a refund of the ticket price with the semester fee, it is important that you have not yet booked the ticket via the VMT portal. If you have already done so at the time of your application, a refund is no longer possible!