Well you'll usally have 563€/month as a single or 506€/month if living with a partner. State pays health insurance and rent (up to a certain limit in size of the flat). In most cities it's further subsidized (25-29€ for the 49€ ticket).

If that's enough depends a lot where you live, if you have family or not and your livestyle.

You have to pay your energy bills (40-70€/month) and internet / cell-phone (40-50€/month) for yourself.

If you are a healthy single it's perfectly fine if you life a simple life. But you can't really put aside any savings.

> Doesn't Germany have an extremely large social safety net?

Yes, but people will still be greedy and complain about every little thing.

> Who are these poor people that don't have 49€ for a month of transportation, and how are they possibly surviving without that much money - given the cost of everything else in Germany?

Germany can actually be quite cheap on the basic goods. I mean, it's the country who invented the concept of discount-market and is now spreading Aldi&Lidl to the world. There are also many shops and programs for supporting poor people, selling stuff for lower prices or second hand, and such things. And of course this includes offering a lower price for the ticket.

The safety net also provides people with cheaper tickets. At least in my city, the ticket costs much less for people who depend on the social safety net.