Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – The head of the Stuttgart Transport and Tariff Association (VVS), Thomas Hachenberger, has defended the structure of transport associations against allegations of small-scale from Berlin. “You need the transport associations,” he told the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” (Tuesday). It is the associations in the country that, during Corona, for example, ensured that the funds from the rescue package reached the transport companies in good time so that operations were guaranteed. In addition, the associations would be supported by municipalities and districts. “This is also a question of local self-government in the state,” emphasized Hachenberger, who is also a spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg transport association.
In the country, however, there is movement in the composite landscape. Smaller groups would find it difficult to handle tasks such as digitization on their own. “One can discuss forming larger units,” said Hachenberger. How many of today’s 21 transport associations in the state will still be left in ten years depends on the money that is available to local public transport in the municipalities: “To put it bluntly: We will then probably still have eight to ten associations. “
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP), for example, recently criticized what he saw as the small-scale organizational structures in public transport. “People don’t live in tariff zones. People want to get from A to B,” he said.
