Murnau municipal council has decided: Omobi local bus will continue for another year - senior citizens' advisory board and Riegsee's town hall chief disappointed

Created: 02/26/2022, 07:00

By: Rafael Sala, Roland Lory

Now part of the street scene: the Murnau local bus Omobi.

© Constanze Wilz

The local bus Omobi will also be on the road in Murnau beyond June.

The market town council decided on Thursday with a narrow majority to extend the contract by one year.

Three years were also up for debate.

Murnau/Riegsee

- It's popular, easy to order and even cheaper for the market community than you thought.

The Omobi is a successful model.

But the two-year trial phase ends in the middle of the year.

Therefore, the market councils had to decide on Thursday how to proceed.

The topic was already on the agenda in January, but a decision in principle was postponed (we reported).

The topic was chewed through for a good two hours on Thursday.

The visitor interest was considerable, there were several requests to speak.

For example by Paula Sterz, who works for the Bavarian Federation of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

"This on-demand system is ideal," she said.

The visually impaired are "stuck at home" without Omobi.

Sterz campaigned for a spatial and temporal expansion - "until 11 p.m. at least".

Ex-municipal councilor Guntram Gattner, who spoke as a "simple citizen", emphasized that the current system is "closest to the citizen" and he added: "We as a community have a social task".

Not three years

Long story short: The municipal council decided to extend the existing contract with the Omobi company by twelve months without any changes.

The newly hired mobility manager of the Murnau market is to present a comprehensive public transport concept for the municipality by autumn 2022, in which a wide variety of components such as on-demand offers, scheduled (small) buses and other elements such as taxi companies will be examined and combined.

This proposal was made by part of the Greens group.

It passed with 13 votes in favour.

An extension by three years had previously been narrowly rejected by a vote of 12:11.

The fact that the Omobi company wanted a contract period of at least 18 months aroused surprise in the committee.

This would put the gun on the chest of the municipal council, complained traffic officer Welf Probst (free voters).

He saw the provider “sitting on the high horse”.

Clemens Deyerling, one of the Omobi managing directors, told the daily newspaper that negotiations with the administration and the mayors were always about three years.

Of course, he doesn't think the one-year resolution is ideal.

But he's not throwing in the towel.

"We're having too much fun to let it fail because of six months." For the company, however, an extension of one year is difficult.

He refers, for example, to the employees "who again have an insecure employment relationship".

Pleas for 36 months

Mayor Rolf Beuting (ÖDP/Bürgerforum) had campaigned in the committee to ensure "security and liability".

"We can show ourselves to be a reliable contractual partner." Wolfgang Küpper (ÖDP/Bürgerforum) wished that his council colleagues "were courageous" and recommended: "Think big and not small".

Climate advisor Dr.

Josef Raab (Greens) called for a three-year extension.

Because: "A project like this takes four to five years to get meaningful numbers and acceptance."

But a slim majority only wanted to extend it by one year.

Once again, the costs were mentioned.

Viewed over the entire funding period of five years, the Murnau market would have a deficit of 440,000 euros with the local bus.

"It's a very expensive solution," said Phillip Zoepf, spokesman for More Move.

"It is our duty and obligation to ask questions" - without being immediately promoted to the "bad boy corner".

Felix Burger (SPD) thinks that two euros per trip are too cheap.

"It has to be at least four to five euros." Josef Bierling (CSU) also advocated an increase in the fare.

He recommended working up the "deficiencies" by June 2023 "in order to then have an improved system".

From the point of view of Veronika Jones (Greens), the local bus is an "indispensable tool in the construction kit of the mobility turnaround".

But:

“It also has to be economical.

We are responsible for taxpayers' money.

We can only spend it once.” Several councils felt that local taxi companies should be involved.

One clientele for whom the Omobi is of great benefit are the elderly.

Rainer Paschen, Chairman of the Senior Citizens' Advisory Board, is "surprised" that it was only extended by one year.

"I was hoping for three years.

But it can't be changed.” He suspects that in a year's time there will be the same debates as last time.

Steinleitner disappointed

Surprised, "if not to say disappointed," said Riegsee Mayor Jörg Steinleitner (Riegsee electoral community).

Because the will of the citizens is "unambiguous".

Steinleitner suspects that "partisan political tactics" play a role in Murnau.

The decision was "discouraged".

Since 2021, the local bus has also been on the road in Riegsee and Seehausen.

The Seehauser councils recently recommended extending the operation of the Omobi by two years.

This week it was the turn of the Riegseer colleagues.

They unanimously agreed that the bus, which does not follow a fixed route but can be called up individually via app or telephone, should be used in Riegsee for another three years.

For Mayor Steinleitner, the flexible on-call bus system in the northern district is proving to be a "single model for success".

Rarely has he been so enthused about this topic: "Senior citizens appreciate it, parents and children appreciate it, the Hochried Clinic and Murnau Accident Clinic recently acknowledged the bus." And these are just a few examples.

Just recently, a tradesman wrote to him with a request that the service should remain.

Not just the local people

customers from abroad also valued him.

However, the head of the town hall could not resist a slight sigh, because the service is of course not available for free, but also costs Riegsee a good deal of money: "Yes, it is expensive." A total of around 43,000 euros would have been incurred for the three years of extension .

But for now it will only be a year.

Because Murnau has the pants on when it comes to this topic.

Or as Deyerling puts it: "Murnau sets the tone".

Because Murnau has the pants on when it comes to this topic.

Or as Deyerling puts it: "Murnau sets the tone".

Because Murnau has the pants on when it comes to this topic.

Or as Deyerling puts it: "Murnau sets the tone".

Does the district step in?

On average, the bus runs eight times a day to and from Riegsee.

According to Steinleitner, the number of promotions rose by 85 percent in 2021 – despite Corona.

Once the pandemic is over, he expects another decent boost.

And there is a ray of hope: It may well be that one day the district will bear the costs.

At least that is Steinleitner's hope.

He referred to figures that show that most trips are inter-municipal, distributed across Riegsee with its districts of Aidling and Hagen and the neighboring communities of Murnau and Seehausen.

This means that financing is a supra-local task: "The district will therefore have to bear the costs." The on-call bus system has already been included in the local transport plan.

It will be a while before the circle gets involved.

Beuting estimates at least two years.

And this time frame is still "sporty".

Also interesting:

Omobi in the political mill