NRW, Lower Saxony, Hamburg or Berlin: In many countries neither buses nor trains are running today or tomorrow. Ver.di had called for the warning strike. An overview.
At the height of the warning strike week in local public transport, buses, trams and subways are standing still in many federal states.
North Rhine-Westphalia
In North Rhine-Westphalia, drivers from around 30 municipal transport companies are taking part in the two-day strike. Experience has shown that only a small proportion of public buses run in the strike regions and are operated by private subcontractors. The ver.di NRW union has called for the work stoppages.
Ver.di representatives told the dpa news agency that the willingness to strike was once again high. Almost all large municipal local transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia such as KVB (Cologne), Rheinbahn (Düsseldorf), DSW21 (Dortmund), the municipal utilities of Münster and moBiel (Bielefeld) are on strike. The two-day strike ends on Friday evening or Saturday night.
Lower Saxony
In Lower Saxony, too, many buses and trains have been standing still since 3 a.m. Passengers must expect significant disruption.
The strike in Göttingen had already begun on Wednesday. Today ver.di is expanding the warning strike in local transport to Hanover, Braunschweig, Osnabrück, Wolfsburg and Goslar. The Üstra in Hanover and the Braunschweiger Verkehrsgesellschaft are leaving all light rail and buses in the depots, Metrobus Osnabrück and Stadtbus Goslar are suspending bus operations.
Only a few city or regional bus routes operate in the state today; they are predominantly served by private companies.
Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein
Employees of the Hamburger Hochbahn (HVV) and the Hamburg-Holstein transport company (VHH) have also been taking part in the two-day strike since the early hours of the morning, which is leading to a widespread public transport standstill in the Hanseatic city and parts of Schleswig-Holstein.
The Hochbahn operates the subway and the majority of bus routes in Hamburg, while VHH mainly operates bus routes in the Schleswig-Holstein area. According to a statement from HVV and VHH, all buses and trains remain in depots: “If passengers set off with the prospect of an emergency timetable and crowd into overcrowded vehicles or on platforms, this would pose a high safety risk,” it says in this.
Last Monday, a five-day strike was also called at the private bus companies (OVN) in Schleswig-Holstein.
Berlin and Brandenburg
In Berlin too, public transport is no longer working: almost the entire local transport service in the capital is to be brought to a standstill. BVG buses, trams and subways remain in the depots. Vehicles are only on the road on individual lines that are operated by private providers. The BVG’s strike lasts until Friday afternoon.
At the same time, the S-Bahn and regional trains, which are not affected by the strike, are increasing their frequency.
Local transport is also on strike in parts of Brandenburg. Employees of the Uckermärkische Verkehrsgesellschaft have been on strike since Wednesday. On Thursday, employees of the Ostprignitz-Ruppiner local transport company are called to strike. Massive trip cancellations are to be expected on all lines.
Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate
In seven cities in Baden-Württemberg, commuters, working people and students will have a difficult time getting around by bus and train over the next two days. Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn, Freiburg, Baden-Baden, Esslingen and Konstanz are affected by the ver.di strike call.
The ferries between Konstanz and Meersburg are also canceled on both days. However, there should be alternative traffic: pedestrians and cyclists can switch to a passenger ship.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, almost all parts of the country are likely to be affected by the strike measures, because private and municipal transport companies are on strike here at the same time. Urban bus transport – for example in Mainz – and all intercity transport in the Palatinate, the Hunsrück, Westerwald or the Southern Palatinate are affected.
Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia
In Thuringia there have been significant disruptions in local transport since Wednesday and in some cases until Friday. There are no or almost no buses and trams running in Erfurt, Gera, Jena, Mühlhausen, Nordhausen, Sondershausen, Weimar and the Saale-Holzland district today.
In Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, as in most other federal states, the strike lasts until early Saturday morning. In most parts of Saxony, local and regional transport is at a standstill. In the cities of Leipzig and Dresden there will be a strike on city traffic on Saturday.
In Saxony-Anhalt, according to a statement from ver.di, employees of the municipal transport companies in Dessau-Roßlau, Halle and Magdeburg as well as in the Burgenland district should stop working.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, bus and train drivers will only go on strike on Friday. The transport companies in Rostock, Greifswald, Ludwigslust-Parchim, Northwest Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania-Rügen are affected.
Hesse
In Hesse, too, employees of municipal transport companies go on warning strike later than in most other federal states: depending on the city, buses, trams and subways will be at a standstill on Friday and Saturday.
In Frankfurt, for example, the trams and subways are affected; in Wiesbaden, according to ver.di, all bus traffic comes to a standstill – and this is also the case for the most part in Kassel. In Hanau, only individual connections are expected to be affected.
Collective bargaining disputes in almost all federal states
The ver.di union is currently negotiating new collective agreements nationwide. Only in Bavaria is there no collective bargaining round because the contracts there are still running. The rounds differ in each federal state. In some it is about higher pay, but in most it is primarily about better working conditions.