Berlin (dpa) – Due to the high demand from the point of view of the transport industry, the 9 euro ticket is already a success – the more urgent is the question of how it is supposed to turn out after the end of the campaign on local public transport.
The proposal of the federal minister of transport, Volker Wissing (FDP) on a permanent simplification of the tariff system, was met on Monday by, inter alia, with the approval of the Association of Towns and Municipalities.
This is the principle of connection
“The first few weeks show that the € 9 ticket was quite successful. In addition to the low price, a uniform tariff structure certainly has a significant impact on this, ”said CEO Gerd Landsberg in the Funke media group newspaper (Monday). “That’s why we have to think about buying a nationwide, single and discounted ticket.”
Green Party leader Ricarda Lang said the € 9 ticket was “a huge success” and was very pleased with Wissing’s insistence on a permanently straightforward fee structure. Overall, she would like the federal government to find good supplementary legislation.
A ticket of 9 euros entitles buyers to travel throughout Germany for the price of 9 euros in June, July and August. Looking to the future, Minister Wissing advocated the permanent elimination of the “tariff jungle” in local transport over the weekend. Until now, dozens of traffic areas in Germany have had different tariffs and regulations.
Industry communities always refer to the issue of financing with such proposals. After all, public transport companies are losing billions of revenues from the € 9 ticketing campaign alone. The special ticket is financed by the federal government of 2.5 billion euros.
How will the funding work?
In addition, the CEO of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) Oliver Wolff announced on Monday that the economic situation is also becoming increasingly difficult for companies due to rising energy, fuel and personnel prices. “Therefore, we need more and more urgent solutions to compensate for this increase, otherwise there is a risk of significant tariff increases or even a reduction in the first public transport service.”
VDV and Deutsche Bahn ask around 6,000 consumers a weekly ticket for a € 9 ticket. Some questions are only intended for special ticket holders. The significantly increased demand for public transport is gradually becoming apparent, it said on Monday. Accordingly, in a recent study, around 20 percent of ticket buyers surveyed said they had hardly ever used public transport before.
In addition, the 9 euro ticket invites you to trips that would not take place without the offer. About 25 percent of surveyed buyers say so. “This significant increase in demand must be critically analyzed in terms of climate protection and system load,” said VDV CEO Oliver Wolff. Green boss Lang said the cheap ticket was originally meant to be a relief due to the overall rise in prices. If you are thinking about long-term solutions now, you always have to “think about climate protection”. Therefore, you should first find out how many people using the cheap offer would actually avoid driving.
In total, more than 30 million people held the ticket in June, Wolff said. Interest will be similarly high in July. “However, this joint success from politics and industry also increases the pressure on the future – both in terms of prices, but above all in terms of service costs,” he said.