BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The criticism of the federal financial plans for the planned 9-euro monthly ticket for local and regional transport is not abating. The chairwoman of the conference of transport ministers of the federal states, Bremen’s transport senator Maike Schaefer (Greens), demanded that the risks associated with the 9-euro ticket should not be transferred to the federal states.
According to Schaefer, the ticket must not become a “flash in the pan”. The federal states are ready to do everything together with the authorities responsible for local public transport (PNV) to implement the agreed 9-euro ticket nationwide on June 1st. “In return, the conference of transport ministers expects the federal government to stand by its promise and assume the costs for organization and implementation. The risks must not be transferred to the federal states.”
From June, a cheap ticket for local and regional transport will be valid for three months throughout Germany. According to a draft law from the Ministry of Transport, the federal government wants to increase funds for the federal states to finance local transport by 3.7 billion euros this year. In addition to corona-related cancellations, the costs for the 9-euro monthly ticket in the amount of 2.5 billion euros are to be paid from this – from June to the end of August, passengers should be able to travel in local and regional transport nationwide for 9 euros per month. The Federal Council must approve the financial package.
Bavaria’s Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) said: “If, as expected, many people want to use the ticket and additional trains and buses have to be provided for this, the federal government does not want to raise the money for it.” The federal government must improve.
Schaefer said that the members of the conference of transport ministers also expected the federal government to compensate for the shortfalls in the expansion of public transport services, the increase in construction, energy and personnel costs and the enormous increase in energy costs as a result of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 totaling 1.5 billion euros to be settled.
The union rejects that. Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had said that the federal states also benefited from the relief in energy costs in local transport, such as the planned temporary reduction in energy tax on fuels./hoe/DP/zb