The Munich transport company (MVG) does not have to cut its offer. The City Council unanimously approved the decision on Wednesday. Due to a deficit of 24.6 million euros, clocks should be thinned out and routes shortened, among other things. The deficit is now financed from the budget. And the offer should not only be retained, the MVG should also start a pilot project for one service on demand start in the outer districts of the city, i.e. a kind of driving service with smaller buses that takes passengers to their destination on request. This means that empty articulated buses do not have to drive around in times of low capacity utilization.
Even before the meeting, the large city council factions had declared that they did not want to agree to the planned cuts. But although everyone agreed in advance, there was still an hour-long discussion, during which the opposition accused the green-red majority in town hall of not having increased the budget for MVG right away when the plans for the cuts in April became known.
The reason why the decision has now been made so late is a cost cap for public transport financing, which the city council itself decided on. Until recently, it was unclear how the deficit could be offset. So that improvements do not have to be made again and again afterwards, a working group from administration and MVG is now to develop a strategy for the future financing of the service program.