“will only sell its long-distance savings tickets” so you can still buy non-saving (full price) tickets? A “mobile phone number or e-mail address” - how about using TutaNota, signing up anonymously? Or better yet, how about buying your ticket though proxysto.re (unrealistic?). Not too surprising considering airplane tickets (and pobably better than the TSA theater) , but this feels like another step to mass surveillance. (And Germany is supposed to be an anonymity friendly country: no to Client Side Scanning, the Wir speichern nicht movement, etc.)

Credit card fees will rise […] experts have advised to make everyday purchases with debit cards, Giro / EC cards or cash in Germany

Cash is good, but maybe experts don’t know there is another better option…?