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Wissing: Local transport discount by June 1st at the latest
Volker Wissing (FDP), Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Affairs, aims to start the discount campaign for public transport by June 1st at the latest. Photo: Oliver Berg/dpa
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When will the cheap ticket for travel on public buses and trains announced by the traffic light coalition come out? The federal government wants speed. But will it be possible to start on May 1st?
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) wants the planned local transport discount to start by June 1st at the latest.
“We shouldn’t shift it too much into the summer, because we want to provide an incentive to save energy in the acute situation,” said the FDP politician on Friday in Hamburg after a meeting with Hamburg’s mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD). The transport industry still sees many unanswered questions and is urging the federal and state governments to make quick decisions.
Wissing said he was in Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday, where he was signaled that they were ready to implement the whole thing on May 1st. “By June 1st at the latest, I would say it has to come.” A spokesman for the ministry in Berlin had previously said that Wissing considered it possible that the planned discount could start on May 1st.
In a letter from the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) to Wissing on Thursday, it says that after internal coordination, the industry considers a starting date of June 1st for the discounted public transport ticket to be realistic – provided that the relevant framework conditions are determined in good time. The letter was available to the dpa. On urgent issues, political decisions should be made by the federal and state governments as quickly as possible. Legislative support is imperative.
Many questions still open
The leaders of the SPD, Greens and FDP decided last week that a ticket for local public transport (ÖPNV) for 9 euros per month should be introduced for 90 days – so that drivers can change in view of the high fuel prices. Many questions about the implementation are still open. A week ago, the federal and state governments set up a working group for this purpose. The federal government wants to make funds available to the states for implementation, Wissing had spoken of 2.5 billion euros.
A VDV spokesman said that so far the necessary political decisions are largely open. As soon as these are available, the industry needs around 4 weeks to implement them, for example to adapt sales systems and to inform customers sufficiently in advance. “If we don’t know where and for whom the ticket should apply and when the funds will be available to the companies and associations, we can’t start implementing it.”
Last Friday, in a special conference with the federal government, the majority of the federal states spoke out in favor of introducing a three-month zero tariff instead of a 9-euro ticket per month – in order to keep the administrative effort for the transport associations low. Wissing had rejected this, also with reference to the costs.
«Huge field test»
In Hamburg, Wissing said that the cheap ticket also gives the opportunity to evaluate customer flows afterwards. He spoke of a “huge field test” to find out how this affects driving behavior and how the discount is accepted by the citizens. Such data protection would not be available with a free ticket. He went on to say he recommends everyone to offer the discount through an online ticket. This also offers the opportunity for a boost in digitization.
Bavaria’s Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) said there were still numerous open questions to which the federal government had not even provided the beginning of an answer.” If the hasty “9 for 90” ticket is now to be implemented in a rush action, I see the great danger that federal states, transport associations, companies and municipalities will be left sitting at the expense of bureaucracy. »