Drastically reduce prices: Metropolis gets its own 9-euro ticket

Created: 05/10/2022 09:44

By: Dennis Pfeiffer-Goldmann

To ensure that rail travel remains affordable for those who have little, the city of Frankfurt wants to offer cheaper tickets for Frankfurt Pass holders in the future.

Occasional drivers will soon pay more for it.

© picture alliance/dpa

The coalition shifts ticket subsidies: Poorer people drive cheaper in Frankfurt, infrequent drivers pay more.

Frankfurt – From the new year onwards, poor Frankfurters should be able to travel at considerably lower cost.

The Roman coalition of Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt wants to drastically reduce ticket prices for holders of the Frankfurt Pass – for some of them there is even a new 9-euro ticket, as reported by fnp.de.

"The current situation with massively increasing living costs poses huge challenges for people and especially families with low incomes," explains Elke Voitl (Greens), head of the social affairs department.

She and Mobility Director Stefan Majer (Greens) therefore propose that Frankfurt Pass holders can buy RMV season tickets for Frankfurt for only around 30 percent of the normal price.

Pupils and seniors travel cheaper in Frankfurt

In concrete terms, schoolchildren and senior citizens should be mobile for EUR 109.50 per year with the Hessenticket, i.e. EUR 9.13 per month - instead of the previous EUR 365 per year.

For adult Frankfurt Pass holders, the price of the 9 a.m. monthly pass for the city area has been reduced from EUR 56.50 to EUR 16.95.

"In this way, we ensure that Frankfurters who are not so well off financially can also be mobile in the city - whether to work, to go shopping or to visit friends," explains Elke Voitl.

"Mobility must be affordable for everyone," emphasizes Stefan Majer.

The price reduction means "sustainable financial relief for users of the Frankfurt Pass".

The Frankfurt Pass can be obtained by anyone with a monthly income of less than 976 euros.

With it, there is often heavily discounted entry to pools, zoos, theaters and museums, and some of them are even completely free for children.

So far, the city has spent 5.7 million euros a year, including 3.2 million for the discounted tickets.

According to Voitl and Majer, this share will increase with the new discount to an expected EUR 9.8 million from 2023.

Frankfurt: Discounted single tickets should soon be over

In order to refinance this, the coalition wants to put an end to the discounted single tickets and day tickets for Frankfurt.

So far, a single trip in the city has cost 2.85 euros, while the standard tariff of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) will be 3.40 euros from 2023.

The city has so far sold day tickets for 5.50 euros, while the RMV will charge 6.65 euros for them from 2023.

Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD), who heads the supervisory board of both the local public transport company Traffiq and RMV, promoted and promoted this subsidy.

However, it is not well received by regular customers: "Everyone gets discounts, discounts, discounts and I pay in full," an angry annual ticket payer complained in this newspaper as recently as January.

New discount card for occasional drivers in Frankfurt

Even in the professional world, the subsidization of occasional passengers instead of regular customers is seen as a little effective in attracting and retaining passengers.

The traffic club VCD, for example, advocates lowering the basic prices in local transport.

In Stefan Majer's department, it was made clear at the time that the city "wanted to accommodate particularly loyal customers", for which one had to "look particularly at the time cards".

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At the same time, the discount introduced by the OB for those who drive infrequently is expensive for the city.

According to the OB office, the municipality had to pay 2.9 million euros extra to RMV for the Frankfurt discount on single and day tickets in 2020 alone.

According to the city administration, the sum has long since risen to eight million.

In the meantime, the Römer even calculates with a whopping ten million euros additional payment to the RMV for 2023.

The coalition now wants to redirect this subsidy in favor of Frankfurters with low incomes.

A discount option for occasional passengers should still be available after the turn of the year, explains Head of Mobility Majer: via the new RMV discount card, which is to be introduced on January 1, 2023.

A “Bahn card for Frankfurters” – this is how it should work

It works in the same way as the Bahncard: bought for 10 euros a month, holders receive single and day tickets at significantly discounted prices.

With the RMV “basic ticket”, a single journey in Frankfurt will in future only cost 2.55 euros and a day ticket 5 euros, calculates Majer.

(Dennis Pfeiffer-Goldmann)

The successful 9-euro ticket has been passé for two months - Frankfurt has rejected a proposed 365-euro offer.