Yeah no, it’s definitely the price and the hassle of getting a ticket. I probably live in the best developed area in Germany, public transit wise. I could be in the next big city center in 10 minutes by train, but without the €9 ticket I frequently took the car (which I have to have for rural reasons), because apparently rather than paying €12.40 I preferred driving 30 minutes, finding and paying for parking, and not drinking. Because it’s not just paying 12.40, it’s figuring out what ticket to get, being shocked by the price, calculating a thousand and one fare options to try and penny-pinch myself to a clean conscience, dealing with their fucking ticket machines or their fucking app, begrudgingly committing to a time and a train… Hating every part of it and feeling hated back by Deutsche Bahn at every step of the way, knowing they’ll readily fuck me over if they find the tiniest excuse.
The €9 ticket got you around without playing stupid games. The same freedom is either unavailable otherwise, or comes at absolutely unjustifiable prices.