Participation of students in the 49-euro ticket, less chaos in passenger checks, more communal freedom in Tempo 30 zones – the transport ministers of the 16 federal states have done a lot. The Germany ticket for local transport was the focus of the two-day consultations of the 16 department heads in Aachen. On Thursday, the chairman of the Conference of Transport Ministers (VMK), NRW department head Oliver Krischer (Greens), together with several colleagues, presented the most important results of the consultation.
Germany ticket for students: Students are to receive a favorable offer as soon as the ticket for all buses and trains is introduced on May 1st. In the interim, they would only have to pay the difference between their semester ticket and the 49-euro ticket in order to be able to use local transport nationwide, explained Krischer. The interim solution should be replaced as soon as possible by a permanent nationwide solidarity model, which is now being developed.
Financing: The federal government is providing 1.5 billion euros for the Deutschlandticket from 2023 to 2025 in order to compensate for half of the loss of income from the transport providers. The federal states should pay for the other half. “The states have the expectation that the commitment will also apply to the future,” said Hesse’s Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir about the division. Saarland head of department Petra Berg (SPD) also insisted that the federal and state governments “jointly commit to financing responsibility” in the long term.
Brandenburg’s Transport Minister Guido Beermann (CDU) said the aim was to double the number of passengers with the single ticket. However, the federal government must continue to increase its regionalization funds for the states so that the offer can also be adapted to the increasing demand and the requirements of climate change. “We need more money in the system.” The Bundestag has already passed the financing law for the 49-euro ticket, and the Bundesrat still has to approve it on March 31st.
Passenger checks: In the future, all airport operators will be able to take over aviation security checks from the federal police, following the example of Frankfurt Airport. The federal government followed the request of the Minister of Transport, reported Krischer. The airports in Hanover, Berlin/Brandenburg, Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf have already expressed interest. The on-site organization makes it possible to act faster and in a more targeted manner in order to avoid chaos during handling. In the years of the corona pandemic, there were often excessively long queues, especially during holiday periods.
However, the new model does not mean “the all-clear signal for this year”, but rather for 2024, Krischer admitted. In the meantime, however, numerous precautions have been taken to ensure that there is no longer such a chaotic situation this year – for example through bookable processing dates or an increase in the number of staff at the Federal Police.
Tempo 30: The transport ministers want more flexibility and freedom for the municipalities when designating Tempo 30 zones. The federal government is called upon to adapt the previously very restrictive road regulations accordingly. By the next VMK in October in Cologne, concrete criteria for greater leeway in the designation of 30 km/h zones are to be worked out. “It is expressly not about introducing 30 km/h across the board,” emphasized Krischer.
Ukraine cars: Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, many people seeking protection have fled to Germany with their cars. However, your vehicles must be registered in Germany after one year at the latest. This period is currently ending in many cases. The federal states have asked the federal government to initially extend this period and to ensure a longer-term, uniform solution.
This requires coordination with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, explained the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Susanne Henckel. It is clear that the regulatory gap must be filled quickly. In Aachen, Henckel represented Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP), who was “on the move on other issues,” as she said. When asked about the annoyance of the state ministers about the unusual absence of a federal minister from the VMK, the state secretary replied that she had “noticed anything about a snub”.
