In the dispute between the federal and state governments over more money for local transport, there is still no agreement. Before the final deliberations of the transport ministers’ conference, Bremen’s transport senator Maike Schaefer (Greens) said in Bremerhaven that the prime ministers’ conference had shot the ball into the transport ministers’ playing field. “And we will certainly give the ball back then.” Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the heads of government of the federal states could not agree on financial issues last week. Schaefer, the current chair of the state department heads, continued: “We are currently discussing how we can do it together.” But it is always clear that the countries also need money to stabilize local public transport.
Without a solution to the financing question, there will be no 9-euro ticket successor for the time being. The federal states had decided not to decide on a successor plan until the federal government responded to their demands for more money. “I hope that the federal states and the federal government can agree,” said Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) in Bremerhaven when asked whether he expected a solution to succeed a 9-euro ticket. A proposal from him is on the table. “I had proposed this 9-euro ticket and implemented it against resistance,” said Wissing. Many would have said it wouldn’t work – and in the end it worked out.
