Despite many unanswered questions: Wissing grants associations additional public transport concessions

Despite many unanswered questions
Wissing makes further public transport concessions available to associations

The federal and state governments have agreed in principle on a nationwide 49-euro ticket from next year. Transport Minister Wissing recommends planning any further discounts from this basis. Meanwhile, there is resistance to a purely digital ticket.

Minister of Transport Volker Wissing has shown himself open to an additional discount on the planned 49-euro ticket. When asked what happened to the people who could not afford the local transport ticket at this level, the FDP politician told the t-online portal. “As before, the federal states and municipalities have the opportunity to ensure participation with discounts.”

This also applies to school transport or job and semester tickets, Wissing continued. “My recommendation would be that all these questions should be clarified based on the Germany ticket. Any discounts should be deducted from the price.” There are also “no limits” to the possibility that employers could also pay a subsidy, said Wissing.

The successor regulation for the nationwide nine-euro ticket is currently being discussed, the transport ministers of the federal and state governments have agreed on a ticket of 49 euros, which should come in January. Wissing intends to stick to this plan despite the many unresolved financial issues. “So far everything is going according to plan,” he said.

Public transport should be accessible to everyone

Meanwhile, there is resistance to a purely digital solution for the ticket. “Should the 49-euro ticket actually come under these conditions, it should be as easy as possible for all passengers to obtain it,” Bavarian Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. It must be checked “whether conventional ticket sales would not also be possible”.

“A purely digital ticket excludes millions of passengers,” warned Gregor Kolbe, the traffic expert at the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv). “Potential passengers who don’t have a smartphone or don’t want or can’t use it to buy a ticket will be made unable to purchase it,” he also told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. An analogue 49-euro ticket must also be available, which can be bought from ticket machines or counters. “Public transport must be usable for everyone, nobody should be excluded.”

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