The federal and state governments have reached an agreement on open financing issues, paving the way for the 49-euro monthly ticket. However, Thuringian transport companies do not see this as the beginning of a traffic turnaround.
Erfurt (dpa/th) – Thuringian transport companies still see many open questions after the federal-state compromise on the digital, nationwide valid Deutschlandticket for the price of 49 euros. The funds agreed for this were not sufficient for financing, said the managing director of the Verkehrsverbund Mittelthüringen (VMT), Christoph Heuing, the German Press Agency. The federal and state governments each want to provide 1.5 billion euros for the new ticket. “The calculation will not add up.”
The estimated three billion euros are only an estimate, said Heuing. There is much to suggest that the ticket will become more expensive after the introductory price. The Association of Central German Bus Companies made a similar statement. The price will inevitably increase over time, said association manager Tilman Wagenknecht.
Heuing explained that the costs for converting the sales technology had not yet been priced in. “The transport companies must not leave the matter with economic damage.” The cities and districts as owners of the transport companies could not bear the financial risk for the new Deutschlandticket.
The planned Germany ticket with a price of 49 euros per month in local and regional transport is the successor to the 9-euro ticket, which was used in June, July and August for one-month trips on buses and trains throughout Germany. The federal states had made their approval of the new ticket dependent on the increase in the regionalization funds with which the federal states order train and bus connections from the transport companies.
The federal government then promised an increase in regionalization funds of around one billion euros per year. From 2023 onwards, the regionalization funds are to be increased by three percent annually. So far it was 1.8 percent. In the past few months, federal states and associations had insisted on an additional 1.5 billion euros a year so that they could not only offer a cheap local transport ticket, but above all improve the infrastructure and services.
“One billion euros per year is not the start of the traffic turnaround,” criticized Heuing. This means that there will be no large-scale expansion of local public transport. It is questionable whether the status quo can be maintained in this way. The Deutschlandticket for people in rural areas will also not bring any major improvements. The transport politician of the Greens parliamentary group, Laura Wahl, sees the introduction of the new ticket and the increase in regionalization funds as a “milestone for a real turnaround in mobility”.
The Association of Central Thuringia includes 15 transport companies. It includes the cities of Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera as well as the districts of Gotha, Weimarer Land, Saale-Holzland, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and Saale-Orla.
