From 2023 on, the district of Munich will create a new express bus line with the Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund (MVV), which will connect the eastern and southern district with the state capital from Putzbrunn via Ottobrunn and Unterhaching.
The new line with the designation X204 is designed as a classic tangential, starts in the Putzbrunn industrial park, crosses the center of Ottobrunn, goes to Unterhaching S-Bahn station and in the city to the Candidplatz and Brudermühlstraße subway stations and ends at the St. Achaz church in Mittersendling. The plan is to run the new express bus – the second of its kind in the district after the X200 line from Ostbahnhof to the Taufkirchen / Ottobrunn industrial park – for an initial period of five years. However, the type of drive not only arouses enthusiasm.
Criticism of the diesel bus
In the latest meeting of the district council’s mobility committee, FDP district councilor Manfred Riederle was bothered by the fact that the X204 should go into operation as a diesel bus. “I am already questioning whether it fits our climate goals if we let a conventional diesel bus drive on this line,” said Riederle. Rather, it must be checked whether an alternative drive would not make more sense on this route, argued the Unterschleissheimer. District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) countered that the planning of an electrified line, for example, needed a certain lead time, as did the construction of the infrastructure.
“Now the point is that the line can be served as quickly as possible. And the line would not be served at all if we now demand a different drive technology,” said the district administrator. However, other technologies would of course continue to be tested after commissioning.
SPD parliamentary group leader Florian Schardt said that this approach was now exactly the right thing to do from a climate point of view; In 2028, the technologies would be much more advanced in their development, said Schardt. “We also have to be careful that we don’t draw up a carbon footprint for every little thing,” said the Social Democrat.