First half of the year: Fewer passengers on buses and trains

Status: 09/21/2021 10:38 a.m.

The number of passengers in local public transport also fell in 2021 due to the pandemic. In the first six months, the decline was 18 percent – with the pre-crisis level a long way off.

Many people in Germany continue to avoid buses and trains. The use of local public transport was recently still well below the level before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. This is shown by figures from the Federal Statistical Office.

No commuting through the home office

According to this, local transport companies counted just under 3.5 billion journeys in the first half of 2021 – 18 percent less than in the same period of the previous year. Compared to the pre-crisis level, i.e. the first half of 2019, there is an even more significant minus of 42 percent. Around 38 million so-called “passenger kilometers” were covered, 25 percent less than a year earlier.

Especially at the beginning of the year, with the lockdown, many employees had their workplaces at their own desks in the home office, and commutes were no longer necessary. The fear of infection with the corona virus made many people switch to their own car or bike.

Dramatic slumps in long-distance traffic

According to the Federal Office, long-distance trains were particularly hard hit by the break-in. Compared to the first half of 2020, which was already affected by the Corona crisis, the number of passengers there fell by 34 percent to 28.0 million. Long-distance bus traffic even collapsed by 92 percent to 0.3 million passengers in the first half of 2021.

The data may not fully reflect the actual decline, according to statisticians. “Among other things, because many passengers have season tickets in local transport,” said the Federal Office. “These tickets were probably used comparatively rarely due to the pandemic.”

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