The Pro Bahn passenger association has asked the federal and state governments to fully cover the expenses of the transport companies for the future Deutschlandticket.
“It is questionable whether the three billion for the 49-euro ticket will be enough,” said Pro-Bahn spokesman Karl-Peter Naumann of the editorial network Germany.
The federal and state governments would have to completely offset the expenses of the transport companies for the ticket. “In addition, money must be made available for the high energy costs, staff and the expansion of local transport,” he warned. Otherwise there was a risk that traffic connections would be cancelled. “Then the shot backfires for the passenger,” said Naumann. Local public transport in Germany is ordered from the operators by the federal states or municipal special-purpose associations.
Naumann: Criticism of setting the wrong focus
In the discussion about the successor to the 9-euro ticket, Naumann criticized the focus: “Politicians have cornered the whole public transport system because it first concentrated on the ticket instead of on the expansion of local transport,” he said . “Politicians have taken the third step before the first.”
The Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) had already asked for more money from the state on Wednesday. Loss of income and additional costs of the companies would have to be compensated “completely and permanently”, it said. The federal and state governments had agreed last week to pay 1.5 billion euros each in addition to an increase in the so-called regionalization funds, with which the federal government co-finances public transport in the states.
