SPD is pushing for a successor solution for the 9-euro ticket

Created: 08/25/2022Updated: 08/25/2022 18:24

North Rhine-Westphalia's SPD parliamentary group leader Thomas Kutschaty makes a statement in the state parliament.

© Federico Gambarini/dpa/archive image

The promotion of the 9-euro monthly ticket for nationwide journeys in local transport will expire in a few days.

The SPD parliamentary group considers a rapid successor solution to be important and presents a model.

From their point of view, this could apply in NRW and then nationwide.

Düsseldorf/Bremen - The SPD parliamentary group is proposing a monthly ticket for 30 euros as a possible successor to the 9-euro ticket in local transport, with which North Rhine-Westphalia could initially go ahead alone before a nationwide regulation.

"The 9-euro ticket has not only enabled mobility for people and it has been well received," said SPD parliamentary group leader Thomas Kutschaty on Thursday in Düsseldorf.

Without the 9-euro monthly ticket, the inflation rate would have been around one percentage point higher.

"It shows how big a lever there is actually to do something against inflation." According to Kuchaty's idea, the 30-euro monthly ticket could initially be valid in NRW and from January 1, 2023 nationwide.

NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) is promoting a model from his party's ranks: "We recommend a two-stage model.

A ticket for 29 euros a month for regions such as NRW and a 49-euro ticket valid nationwide,” he told the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” (Friday).

This model could be financed by reducing environmentally harmful subsidies, for example for large company cars.

In the end, the question of financing is definitely a federal one.

"The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is not in a position to finance a project of this dimension on its own," explained Krischer.

Kuschaty emphasized that the question of a follow-up offer for the campaign, which expires at the end of August, must be answered quickly.

The country should offer something and not just point the finger at Berlin and wait and see.

"That's why North Rhine-Westphalia should make its contribution.

We propose one ticket for everyone for one euro a day,” he explained.

This means that customers pay 30 euros for a monthly ticket according to this model.

According to the model, there should also be offers for quarterly and annual subscriptions.

As chairman of the Prime Ministers' Conference, NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) should now sit down with the federal level to ensure funding for a successor plan as quickly as possible, the SPD politician demanded.

The federal government paid 2.5 billion euros to compensate for the revenue deficits of the transport companies, of which around 500 to 700 million euros flowed to NRW.

It is understandable that the federal states also have to make a contribution because they are responsible for local transport.

According to Kutschaty, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has considerable leeway through additional tax revenue to relieve the burden on citizens.

"North Rhine-Westphalia is almost drowning in tax surpluses at the moment," he emphasized.

Even adjusted for additional expenditure, as of the end of July there would have been additional income of 1.7 billion euros compared to the current plans.

The bottom line is that there should even be two billion euros in additional income in the NRW state budget.

The chairwoman of the conference of transport ministers, Bremen's transport senator Maike Schaefer (Greens), said in an interview with Bayern 2 that people wanted a discussion about a successor to the 9-euro ticket.

"They don't necessarily want it to stay at nine euros, it can also be a little higher, but it also has to be affordable to use public transport."

There will not be a nationwide follow-up regulation as of September 1st - but she thinks it is possible that a follow-up ticket will be launched on January 1st next year.

The federal government must also contribute to the financing.

A working group of state ministers is currently working on a position paper;

There were no results yet.

"Of course, we still want to enable people with a low income to use public transport, and to use it at an affordable rate," she told the broadcaster.

The transport ministers of the federal states are advising this Friday on the drastically increased energy costs for the transport associations.

A possible successor to the 9-euro ticket that expires at the end of August should also be a side topic.

Resolutions on this issue are not to be expected on Friday, it said.

The ministers from the federal states only want to deal with this at their meeting in October.

Connection offers for the 9-euro tickets have been discussed at the federal level for weeks in order to relieve passengers of energy costs and to provide incentives for switching to local public transport.

Among other things, there were suggestions for a 365-euro annual ticket and monthly tickets for 29, 49 or 69 euros.

dpa