The feedback for the three-month 9-euro ticket is mostly positive. The interest in a follow-up model is correspondingly high. The Ministry of Transport now wants to examine whether this is feasible on a monthly, annual or any basis at all.
The Association of Towns and Municipalities supports proposals for a nationwide uniform and permanently cheap ticket for local public transport. “Citizens have a great interest in being able to use buses and trains throughout Germany without a jungle of tariffs. This is also shown by the experience of the 9-euro ticket,” said general manager Gerd Landsberg to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “The example of Austria also shows that a 365-euro ticket is widely accepted.”
As a follow-up regulation for the 9-euro ticket, which is scheduled to run for three months and expires at the end of August, a 365-euro annual ticket is being debated, among other things. CSU boss Markus Söder spoke out in favor of such a ticket at the weekend, which should apply to all local public transport throughout Germany. The consumer centers had recently proposed a 29-euro monthly ticket, i.e. on a similar scale to Söder.
The German District Association was skeptical about this. “I don’t believe in proposals to extend the 9-euro ticket or follow-up models such as a 365-euro annual ticket,” said district council president Reinhard Sager (CDU) to the Funke newspapers. “A lot of government money was burned that could have been invested more effectively in timing and equipment.” Landsberg also called for more funds to expand local transport.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing was pleased with the proposals for a follow-up regulation for the 9-euro ticket. “We will carefully examine and evaluate all of this, also calculate our own models and consult with the federal states. We have to take a close look at the price at which such a ticket could be offered throughout Germany,” said the FDP politician of the Funke media group. The aim is to get rid of the jungle of tariffs and to make public transport as simple and attractive as possible. “In the end, of course, it has to fit into the budgets of the federal states and the federal government,” Wissing made clear.
The environmental association Greenpeace already wants to provide a calculation approach. A permanently cheap public transport ticket can be financed by the federal government specifically canceling or changing climate-damaging subsidies, according to Greenpeace. What is needed, for example, is the abolition of the tax company car privilege and a reform of the commuter allowance.
A climate ticket for 365 euros a year could solve two pressing problems at the same time: it noticeably relieves the households hit by the energy crisis and it promotes climate protection in transport. A Greenpeace paper examined the consequences of a permanent 9-euro ticket and a ticket for 365 euros per year. The total costs of different types of mobility were compared with each other.
According to this, households could save between 224 and 474 euros per month with the tickets – for example compared to the exclusive use of a car. At the same time, according to Greenpeace, the modal shift through such a ticket would reduce CO2 emissions by 2 to 6 million tons per year. According to the paper, the assumption is that a climate ticket increases the incentive to travel longer distances with regional trains. Monthly fixed costs are included in the cost of car ownership, but also, for example, the depreciation of cars.
