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Regional train in Saxony (symbol picture): Dense network of 230,000 stops - but many are only rarely served
Photo:
Arno Burgi / picture alliance / dpa
The expansion of local transport is considered to be important for the mobility transition.
But there is still a lot to be done, as an analysis by the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary ioki shows, on which the newspapers of the Funke media group report.
Only around 27 million German citizens in large cities and metropolitan regions therefore have very good local public transport available.
For around 55 million people who live in the surrounding area or in rural areas, the offer is significantly lower and often inadequate, according to the report, which appears in time for the ioki Regiosignale Conference.
There is a dense network of 230,000 bus and train stops in Germany.
But less than half would be served hourly or more frequently in the country.
In large cities, 80 percent of the residents have at least one hourly service.
Municipalities require help from the federal government
For better connections, more on-demand shared taxis should be used as part of public transport, according to the report in the study. "With flexible vehicles that are available on demand via the app in front of the door and drive to the next bus or suburban train station, around 25 million people could be offered an offer in public transport," said ioki managing director Michael Barillère-Scholz den Newspapers. Deutsche Bahn has already integrated 330 such on-demand transports into local public transport, transporting around seven million passengers.
According to the report, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities asks for support on the question of how the further expansion and networking of the modes of transport in local transport can work.
"The federal government is required here," said chief executive Gerd Landsberg of the newspaper group.
The necessary expansion should not depend on the financial leeway of individual municipalities.
In the corona crisis, however, the demand for local public transport fell due to lockdowns and home offices, and the car as an individual means of transport experienced a renaissance.
However, there is potential: Despite rising fuel prices, the number of people who have to cover long distances to get to work is high at more than 3.4 million.
apr / Reuters