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Again fewer traffic jams in German cities

2022-08-12T12:33:03.599Z


How many people leave their car because of the 9 euro ticket? There are different insights into this. A data specialist has determined that the ticket has also relieved many roads in July.


Enlarge image

Positive consequences of the 9-euro ticket: Less traffic jams in big cities - and thus less pollution for the residents

Photo: Michael Gstettenbauer / IMAGO

Better to take the train instead of the car: In July, many people used the 9-euro ticket for local public transport and apparently left their own vehicle behind for it.

At least that is what an analysis by the traffic data specialist Tomtom suggests, about which the editorial network Germany (RND) reported.

This confirms the trend that emerged in the first month after the ticket was introduced.

Tomton had already determined a significant decrease in the level of traffic jams in major German cities in June.

However, the assumed effect was now somewhat weaker in many places than in the previous month.

In twelve of the 14 cities surveyed, commuters by car lost less time in traffic than in May.

This was most evident in Stuttgart and Wiesbaden.

Only in Bremen and Karlsruhe did the congestion level increase slightly.

In June, the Tomtom experts examined the traffic level in 26 cities and came to similar conclusions.

In July, for reasons of statistical comparability, they were limited to cities in which a complete working week could still be compared with the previous months.

majority for extension

"If you compare the loss times for June and July, only two cities show an improvement in traffic flow from June to July," said Ralf-Peter Schäfer from Tomtom to RND.

»For five cities, the Tomtom data show no change.

Tomtom has seen a slight increase in lost time in seven cities, but without reaching May levels.«

According to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), more than 30 million people owned the 9-euro ticket in June, around ten million of them in the form of an existing public transport subscription.

Buses and trains were therefore used significantly more.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, “nationwide movements in rail transport” in June were an average of 42 percent higher than in June 2019.

Around a quarter of the journeys made in public transport would not have been made without the ticket, according to the Association of German Transport Companies.

These are therefore additional journeys and not substitute journeys that would otherwise have been made by car.

Whether people have really switched from cars to local transport across the board and in significant numbers cannot yet be answered with certainty.

While the tomtom numbers at least suggest this, other research does not find it that way.

At least a small effect was observed in Munich.

"From the previous studies, only a slight shift from the road to public transport of at best two to three percent can be seen," said Christian Böttger, rail expert at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW).

However, this may sometimes lead to traffic running more smoothly.

However, the congestion data does not provide clear evidence of this.

The discount campaign in local transport should end at the end of August.

So far, neither the three partners in the traffic light coalition nor the federal and state governments have been able to agree on a possible continuation.

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) expects a data analysis for the 9-euro ticket at the beginning of November, on the basis of which a possible follow-up offer will be debated.

A majority of Germans are in favor of extending the offer, according to a recent SPIEGEL survey.

55 percent would like an extension of the ticket, with which public transport can be used throughout Germany for 9 euros per month.

34 percent of Germans are against it.

This was the result of a survey by the opinion research institute Civey for SPIEGEL.

A 365-euro annual ticket as a follow-up offer also met with majority approval.

sug/nis/afp

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-08-12

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