At the beginning of the new year, city bus, tram and subway passengers have to pay more for tickets in many places. Most of the major transport associations increase prices at the turn of the year. According to an evaluation by the German Press Agency, this affects customers in the Ruhr area, in the Rhineland, in Berlin and Brandenburg, in the greater Hamburg and Bremen areas as well as in the Rhine-Main area. In addition, there are everyone who travels on regional trains outside of transport associations.
Transport companies demand between 1.3 and 3.3 percent more from their customers. This is intended to compensate for higher employee salaries and higher fuel prices.
Many customers in southern Germany, on the other hand, get away with it. In the greater Munich area, a tariff reform in mid-December brought prices on average seven percent lower. In and around Stuttgart, simpler tariff zones made many connections cheaper. In the Nuremberg transport association, prices remain the same.
More people should drive buses and trains instead of cars and thus avoid climate-damaging carbon dioxide. This is one of the goals of the climate program that the Bundestag and Bundesrat decided on shortly before Christmas. The federal government is also investing additional money in local transport.
The price increases had already been decided. Higher salaries, diesel and electricity prices as well as material costs made this inevitable, argued for example the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg.
- Between Aachen , Bonn and Remscheid , prices rise by 2.5 percent.
- In the neighboring Rhine-Ruhr network , the average is 1.8 percent,
- in the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund and thus for most residents of Hesse, prices go up by 1.5 percent,
- in the Hamburg transport association by 1.3 percent.
- In contrast, it will be 3.3 percent more expensive in Berlin and Brandenburg . The turnaround in traffic can only be achieved with local public transport, it said. There were two zero rounds in the region. Now additional money is needed for new buses, subway and tram trains, for maintenance, personnel and investments in environmentally friendly drives.
Passenger numbers stagnate
"The climate protection goals in the transport sector can only be achieved through strong public transport," said Ingo Wortmann, President of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV). "This is a joint task of the federal government, the federal states, municipalities and the transport companies." Massive investments are needed to completely renew and expand the networks. The annual income of 13 billion euros from ticket sales are crucial for this. Three quarters of them covered operating costs. The rest of the business and investments come from public budgets.
At the same time, local transport companies are now reporting stagnating passenger numbers, as they should play an increasingly greater role in efforts to protect the climate. There were only a few more people driving buses and trains this year than in the previous year. According to the Association of German Transport Companies, the Germans will have made around 10.41 billion journeys on buses and trains in 2019. That would correspond to an increase of 0.3 percent.
Actually, the operators of local public transport (ÖPNV) had set themselves the goal for 2030 to transport 30 percent more customers. However, crowded trains and buses are likely to be a reason why the after-traffic gains relatively few additional passengers.
VAT reduction - ICE will be ten percent cheaper
At the turn of the year, prices on the Deutsche Bahn ICE and Intercitys fell for the first time in 17 years. It will be ten percent cheaper for customers. This is made possible by the VAT reduction for long-distance train tickets, which was decided as part of the climate package of the German government.
Due to the reduction in VAT, Deutsche Bahn expects an annual plus of five million passengers. The reduced tax rate of seven percent applies to tickets from a distance of 50 kilometers, which are booked from the entry into force of the legal regulation.
However, those who travel with Deutsche Bahn or one of its competitors in regional traffic may pay more in the new year. Travel outside of transport associations is 1.7 percent more expensive in Germany, according to the tariff association of federal and non-federal railways. After all, this affects every fifth customer.
In the center of Augsburg, buses and trams are free
Augsburg deliberately takes a different path than many municipalities in Germany: In the center of the Fuggerstadt, bus and tram travel is free from the turn of the year. The offer is intended in particular to improve the air quality in the inner city of the 300,000-inhabitant municipality. "With the city zone we want to reduce the search for parking spaces and make the city center more attractive for visitors and strengthen retail," said the second mayor Eva Weber (CSU). The city zone, in which no ticket has to be bought, comprises the area of nine stops.
The Upper Bavarian district town of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm had already introduced free bus travel in December 2018. To determine how the offer was accepted, a passenger count was carried out after about two months. The result was that exactly 22,650 people were on the city buses in a two-week period. Compared to previous surveys, the number of users had more than doubled.
Augsburg is also said to have a so-called mobility flat rate. It consists of a paid subscription that allows unlimited bus and tram travel in the city. In addition, users can use rental bicycles and carsharing cars from Stadtwerke Augsburg (SWA).