Berlin’s transport senator Jarasch believes in a quick agreement on a 49-euro ticket

The transport ministers of the federal and state governments have mostly agreed on a nationwide 49-euro ticket for local transport. This was reported by the ARD broadcaster “Radio Bremen” citing a key issues paper before the meeting of the transport ministers of the federal states with Federal Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) in Bremerhaven on Wednesday. The “Klimaticket Deutschland” should therefore be available as an annual subscription. But the agreement is still pending.

In an interview with rbb on Wednesday afternoon, Berlin’s Transport Senator Bettina Jarasch (Greens) was confident that an agreement on a nationwide replacement ticket for the nine-euro ticket could be reached in the near future. “I’m really confident now that we’ll be able to do it,” said Jarasch. In her estimation, there is now a broad majority for the 49-euro ticket.

The looming price would have the advantage that 49 euros would still be attractive for many people in a city like Berlin, mainly because of the nationwide validity. She also indicated that it will be possible to further develop the ticket regionally. “We can use a ticket like this to get an additional discount on site, i.e. to make additional offers for social groups that are already traveling under different conditions,” said Jarasch. As examples, she named possible job ticket offers in cooperation with large employers (as before) and discounted tickets in cooperation with the social administration for people who could currently use the Berlin Pass.

Before the meeting on Wednesday, Jarasch was a little more cautious about the 49-euro ticket. Also because there are many people in a big city like Berlin for whom this prize is more than they can afford. She had therefore already asked for a ticket in advance that the countries could use. That is now apparently in prospect.

With the emerging model, the state of Berlin can turn public transport into “a whole new lever for the kind of mobility transition that we’ve been working on for so long,” said Jarasch. However, there are still countries that are skeptical. Therefore, the decision must first be made before she wants to present a concrete offer for Berlin. She called the chance of the ticket “unique”.

For Jarasch’s counterpart in Brandenburg, Guido Beermann (CDU), the main focus is on financing a transnational ticket. In the run-up to the ministerial meeting, Beermann told rbb that rising energy costs would tear a significant hole in the coffers of transport companies. “We urgently need clarity about how public transport should be financed.”

Just to maintain the current range of local public transport, you would need an additional 1.65 billion euros from the federal government because of the energy costs. The sustainable expansion also requires further financing, according to the CDU politician. “The federal states are sticking to their demand for a further 1.5 billion euros in regionalization funds if the traffic turnaround is to make serious progress.”

On Wednesday morning, Wissing was asked on NDR whether there would be a 49-euro ticket. “That’s my plan, but there is still no agreement between the federal and state governments, neither about the time nor about some details of the ticket,” said the Federal Minister of Transport. When asked if he could explain the price of 49 euros to be correct, Wissing replied: “I can confirm that this is my wish and I think it can be financed.”

When asked by rbb, the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) said that the follow-up discussion about the nine-euro ticket was being observed and accompanied at regional and national level. “Basically, as a transport association for two federal states, we rely on cross-regional solutions for everyone,” said a spokesman. Due to the current discussion, a final assessment is still open and not yet possible without final decisions.

The nine-euro ticket, which has been bought millions of times, enabled travel by bus and train nationwide for one month in June, July and August. The federal traffic light coalition had agreed to provide the states with an additional 1.5 billion euros annually for a nationwide local transport ticket if the states provided at least the same amount. The target was a ticket price of between 49 and 69 euros per month.

As a temporary successor to the nine-euro ticket, the Berlin Senate introduced a 29-euro ticket. It is generally only valid in Berlin and only for tariff zones A and B during the months of October, November and December as a subscription. The demand is great. Until the beginning of October 30,000 tickets have already been sold. It was not possible to agree on a joint interim solution with Brandenburg.

Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, October 12, 2022, 6:25 a.m

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