Berlin gets a time-limited 29-euro ticket for local transport. It should only apply within the city from October to December. Will the price shock come afterwards? Photo: picture alliance/dpa
From Hildburg Bruns
The decision will be made in twelve days: on September 29, the supervisory board of the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) will vote on a whopping 5.6 percent surcharge on ticket prices in the new year.
The mayors, heads of departments and district administrators from Brandenburg are jostling – their transport companies are under enormous cost pressure. But the Berlin S-Bahn is also expecting a bill for traction current that is three times as high at 150 million euros this year alone.
How will Berlin behave in the VBB vote? After all, the transport association of the capital did not put a spanner in the works when it went it alone with the 29-euro ticket.
Officially, Berlin stated in the supervisory board resolution: “The state of Berlin recognizes that the introduction of a 29-euro ticket in Berlin AB does not mean that the 1.1. Replaced tariff measure planned for 2023 with an adjustment of 5.62 percent.”
CDU leader Kai Wegner (50) interprets this as a concession: “What Berlin’s governing party Giffey (SPD) and Green Senator Jarasch sell as a big hit, Berliners pay dearly for at the turn of the year,” he says. And: “The government probably bought the approval of the VBB supervisory board with the Berlin commitment to the wage increase from January.”
Jarasch spokesman Jan Thomsen insists that no decision has been made so far: “The separation between the two issues is clearly indicated. A tariff adjustment has not been decided and will not be replaced by the 29-euro decision.”
For Jens Wieseke (57) from the passenger association, the race for future tariffs is open: “We hope for a Germany-wide solution from January. And then it depends on the conditions, such as a possible possibility of taking people or bikes with you, which ticket is more worthwhile for the individual.”