Relief for users of public transport
The 9-euro ticket will come in May at the earliest
4/1/2022, 4:46 p.m
The federal government wants to relieve consumers with a discounted ticket for bus and train – initially for three months. According to the Ministry of Transport, things should start in May, but the transport associations are pressing the brakes. Many details are unclear. The ticket could start even later.
According to the federal government, the planned 9-euro ticket for local public transport may start in a month. There are “various signals from the countries that tell us that a start on May 1st is possible,” said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Transport in Berlin. The working groups dealing with the topic “are working under high pressure,” added the spokesman. The ministry is therefore “very confident” that the introduction can take place “very promptly”.
According to a report by the editorial network Germany (RND), the transport associations for local public transport (ÖPNV), on the other hand, consider June 1st to be the earliest possible start time. “After internal coordination, the industry considers a start date of June 1st for the discounted public transport ticket to be realistic, provided that the relevant framework conditions have been defined in good time,” the RND quoted from a paper dated March 31st.
The ticket is part of the relief package because of the high energy prices that was put together by the traffic light coalition about a week ago. Monthly tickets for public transport throughout Germany should only cost 9 euros for three months. A few detailed questions still have to be clarified, the RND reported, citing the paper from the transport associations. Among other things, they called for pre-financing by the federal government by May 1, “so that the funds can be passed on to the transport companies or the associations in good time”.
The industry association assumes costs of between 2 and 2.5 billion euros. The scope of the ticket must also be specified, the RND further quoted from the paper. The transport associations are therefore calling for a nationwide scope, otherwise commuters “who travel longer distances across national borders would be disadvantaged”.