Is the 365 euro ticket coming after all?

Initiative puts Nuremberg's city council under a lot of pressure

Created: 2022-06-20Updated: 2022-06-20 05:05

By: Nikolas Pelke

The supporters of the 365-euro ticket have now put the town hall in time trouble with the many signatures.

© Werner Kraus / www.365vag.de

Around 18,000 citizens have signed for the introduction of the 365-euro ticket in Nuremberg.

This puts City Hall in trouble.

The city council may have to hold a special meeting.

Nuremberg – Nuremberg actually put the introduction of the planned 365-euro ticket in the spring on hold for cost reasons.

This "breach of word" made the citizens' initiative led by Left City Councilor Titus Schüller so upset that new lists of signatures were immediately put out in the Franconian metropolis "Even an outdoor pool took part.

A particularly large number of signatures came from the kindergartens,” says Schüller happily.

Schüller and his fellow campaigners got around 18,000 signatures and thus easily cleared the prescribed hurdle.

If everything goes well, the referendum will take place in September, when the prices for buses and trains will shoot up again to normal levels,” says Titus Schüller, city councilor of the Nuremberg Left Party and “leader” of the Franconian fare revolutionaries.

© Nikolas Pelke

The success of the citizens' initiative is now causing the town hall to run out of time.

After the signatures have been submitted, the city council must decide on the admissibility within four weeks.

365-euro ticket: Special session in Nuremberg should take place by July 8th

This really messes up the schedule in the Franconian metropolis.

The next council meeting will take place on June 22nd.

Until then, the legal review will probably not be possible, according to Nuremberg City Hall.

The next council meeting is not scheduled to take place until July 20.

"We will probably have to schedule a special session, since the city council must decide by July 8 whether the referendum is admissible," says Michael Ruf from the Nuremberg Mayor's Office on request.

The legal experts in the town hall are currently feverishly preparing the draft decision.

Despite the rush, thoroughness is required.

After all, it's not "just" about the introduction of the 365-euro ticket.

Explosive: The citizens' petition also called for the end of fare increases in the large transport association Greater Nuremberg (VGN).

© Nikolas Pelke

Are there also no price increases in the Greater Nuremberg Transport Association (VGN)?

The citizens also want to oblige the council, for example, to vote against allegedly planned fare increases in the regional transport association Greater Nuremberg (VGN).

This last point in particular is obviously explosive.

According to the town hall, the responsible basic contract committee of the transport association wants to discuss the amount of fares before the summer break on July 28th.

The question is also becoming politically sensitive because the principle of unanimity applies here.

A veto from Nuremberg could therefore prevent planned price increases.

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Tailwind for the 365-euro ticket in Nuremberg

In the meantime, Titus Schüller and his “fare revolutionaries” can sit back and relax with the 365-euro ticket initiative.

Schüller has recently made it clear that he does not want to get involved in new negotiations with the city leaders.

As a reminder: Two years ago in the summer, Schüller agreed to a “deal” with Mayor Marcus König (CSU).

At that time, after negotiations with Schüller, König more or less voluntarily announced the introduction of the 365-euro ticket as the first major city in Germany.

In doing so, he wanted to avoid an impending referendum and an even faster introduction of tickets that are cheap for the citizens and expensive for the city.

Now Schüller believes that the introduction can hardly fail at the second attempt.

“The zeitgeist is playing us into the cards massively,” says Schüller with certainty, referring to the 9-euro ticket.

The calculus of the supporters of the 365-euro ticket is apparently very simple.

When fares shoot up again after the 9-euro ticket summer, Nuremberg residents can vote on whether citizens want to travel by bus, tram and subway for one euro a day from 2023.

The initiators believe that the vote can hardly be lost under these circumstances.

"If everything goes well, the referendum will take place in September," says Titus Schüller, city councilor of the Nuremberg Left Party and "leader" of the Franconian fare revolutionaries.