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Commuter traffic in Hanover: families affected who can no longer afford rents in city centers
Photo: DPA / Julian Stratenschulte
The Federal Environment Agency is calling for drastic measures to ensure that the climate targets in transport can still be achieved.
In the opinion of the Federal Association of Medium-Sized Enterprises, the suggestions made are a »horror catalog«.
"Anyone who demands higher fuel prices, the abolition of the commuter flat rate and a car toll in the same breath has lost all reference to the reality of the hard-working people in our country," said Federal Managing Director Markus Jerger of the dpa news agency.
"You cannot deprive millions of people of their mobility basis and only then start thinking about alternative offers."
"Frontal attack on the medium-sized economy"
The President of the Federal Environment Agency, Dirk Messner, had previously complained that the climate targets in transport could not be achieved without massive efforts.
He therefore spoke out in favor of abolishing the commuter allowance, the massive expansion of buses and trains, a speed limit and a car toll, among other things.
The CO2 price should also be at least doubled compared to the previous plan.
This would mean that gasoline and diesel prices would continue to rise significantly, but in return there should be compensation.
The explosion in mobility costs promoted by the Federal Environment Agency affects commuters who have to get their jobs in rural regions, said SME representative Jerger.
Families living on the outskirts of cities suffer just as hard because they can no longer afford rents in city centers.
"The proposal to abolish the commuter allowance without replacement is tantamount to a frontal attack on medium-sized businesses and their employees," said Jerger.
"At the same time, the Federal Environment Agency is doing the acceptance of the energy and transport turnaround a disservice." The future federal government would be well advised to work with industry to ensure a real restart in transport policy by expanding climate-neutral mobility offers.
City assembly calls for more money for local transport
The German Association of Cities asked the future coalition to invest billions in buses and trains for a “sustainable transport turnaround”.
Here the coalition partners would have to agree on a real investment offensive, said City Council President Burkhard Jung to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The federal government must contribute even more to the investment costs, but also to the operating costs for local transport.
Specifically, Jung called for the federal government's regionalization funds for buses and trains to be increased by a further 1.5 billion euros from the current nine billion euros annually.
In addition, planning and approval processes would have to become faster.
apr / dpa