9-euro ticket for bus and train: flash in the pan from the traffic light government

It is intended to relieve the burden on citizens and encourage car commuters to change: the nine-euro ticket for public transport. But as sympathetic as it sounds, it is nonsensical.

Not only commuters, but also day-trippers will benefit from the nine-euro ticket for three months.

Michael Gstettenbauer / Imago

René Höltschi, business correspondent for the NZZ in Berlin.

René Höltschi, business correspondent for the NZZ in Berlin.

NZZ

You are reading an excerpt from the weekday newsletter “The Other View”, published today by René Höltschi, business correspondent for the NZZ in Berlin. Subscribe to the newsletter for free. Not resident in Germany? Benefit here.

If something doesn’t go wrong at the last minute, advance sales will start in some places this Saturday and nationwide on Monday: everyone in Germany will be able to buy a “nine-euro ticket”. It costs the paltry price of nine euros and entitles you to use local public transport and regional transport throughout Germany for one month. However, it will only be available for the months of June, July and August. After that, you will return to the previous tariffs.

A double goal

After the approval of the Bundestag on Thursday evening, the nine-euro ticket still needs that of the federal states on Friday, but despite objections from some federal states it should hardly be possible to stop it. In view of the sharp rise in costs for electricity, heating and mobility, it is intended to provide financial support to citizens as part of the second relief package announced in March. At the same time, it should encourage car commuters to switch to public transport and win back former customers who dropped out during the pandemic.

There is nothing wrong with either goal. Nevertheless, the ticket is a crazy idea. It is true that high energy prices are a massive burden on low-income households. But they are a consequence of the shortages associated primarily with the Ukraine war. The state cannot eliminate them, it can only redistribute the costs. In view of tight budgets, he should concentrate on relieving those who desperately need it, instead of making the entire population happy with the watering can – especially since they have to pay for the “gift” that has not been ordered through their taxes themselves.

risk of overload

It is also true that, in the interests of climate protection, commuter traffic should be reduced as far as possible and that more and more public transport should be used. But to achieve this goal, the nine-euro ticket could even prove to be counterproductive. Traffic experts are already warning of overloading of buses and trains on many routes because there is not enough capacity for a sharp increase in passenger numbers.

In addition, the launch of the holiday season of all things suggests that the nine-euro ticket will also be used by tourists. Because it also applies to typical excursion routes, for example from Berlin to the Baltic Sea, from Hamburg to the North Sea island of Sylt or from Munich to the Alps. The Internet is overflowing with – more or less serious – calls to flood Sylt, this exclusive “island of the rich”, en masse.

Disservice to the energy saving target

In fact, the nine-euro ticket should not only lead to transfers, but also to additional traffic and thus do the energy saving goal a disservice. But those who disdainfully undermine price signals should not be surprised.

At the same time, it is questionable how many car commuters will permanently change trains: If there is actually congestion on numerous routes, many of them are more likely to see their conviction confirmed that public transport is no good anyway – and take the car again from September.

Therefore, the federal government would better use the 2.5 billion that it wants to make available to the federal states for the costs of the nine-euro ticket for investments in the expansion of local public transport instead of for temporary ticket subsidies. That would be more sustainable than a populist three-month flash in the pan.

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